Mako Mermaids: Bluefins Rising
by FireflyBullets
Summary: After discovering a group of mermen setting up camp on Mako Island, Lyla, Sirena, Nixie and Zac must figure out whether they are trustworthy enough to stay, or should be sent onwards. There's also a new mermaid in town, but what is she doing swimming so far from home?
1. 1x1

**Author's Note: **_I've only recently (as in, this last week) gotten into Mako Mermaids and mermaidia in general, although I did previously nurture a mild but short-lived obsession with H2O when it was on TV. It's a bit of a relief, being able to write for an Australian TV show, because being Australian makes it easier to write about things that are commonplace here and not so much in other countries where fans live. It also makes it easier to write slang into the dialogue._

_I haven't been writing for a while so bear with me as I get back into the swing of it. This was an idea I had for H2O but after a bit of manipulation, I can twist it to fit into the (in my opinion, much more palatable) Mako universe. If you visit the H2O wikia, you'll see some spoilers on season 2 of Mako - I'm setting this to happen in place of S2 Mako... So no, Ondina and Erik won't be making an appearance._

_Hope you enjoy reading, let me know what you think _:)

**-Bullets**

* * *

Hatchling day.

Sirena used to love her hatchling day when she lived with the pod. Everyone would give her small gifts and trinkets, and they would have a feast under the sunset, as the water was made to look like greenish molten gold. Then, they would swim to the Moon Pool - her older sister Aquata and pod leader Marina escorting her, and there they would stay for the night.

Now, on land with her legs, she was nervous. Rita had already explained that the land people called it a "birthday", and that while it did include gifts and a feast, she would probably be expected to host a party.

Nixie had already taken over full control of the party preparations, but since Rita had integrated them into her school, Nixie had made many friends that Sirena barely knew - what she did know, however, was that _all_ of them were invited to the party.

'Still gloomy?' Lyla asked as she joined Sirena on the couch. Sirena glanced up at her - Lyla had disappeared on her own hatchling day - _birth_day, Sirena corrected herself - so that she could be alone. Lyla smiled at Sirena gently - this would be her first ha-_birth_day, away from the pod.

'It's not so bad,' she offered, 'And I told Nixie not to invite anyone from school. It'll be us, Evie, Zac, David, and Rita. Something small, for your first land birthday,'

'I wish Aquata was here, at least,' Sirena admitted, 'Swimming out to the Moon Pool was always our favourite part of hatchling day. We would sing with Marina through the night, and sit on the rock edge with our tails in the water and look up at the moon as it shone down on us - I can't do that this time,'

'You can sing with me and Nixie,' Lyla offered, 'And we'll sit on the rock edge and bathe in the moonlight.'

'Zac might follow us,'

'I'll tell Zac to keep away,' Lyla offered. Sirena nodded, and Lyla sighed, trying to think of a way to cheer up the younger mermaid. 'I got you the best gift,' she offered, 'You're going to love it,'

*~X~*

The water surrounding Zac felt tranquil. Lyla had advised him at the last minute on the sort of things mermaids received as gifts on their birthdays, so he had decided to go diving in the reef around Mako Island, in search of a piece of coral he could turn into a necklace. Everyone knew Sirena was nervous about her upcoming birthday, mainly because it would be her first on land, away from her pod. He had never had a birthday away from his own family and friends, and couldn't imagine how hard it must be for Sirena.

Brushing aside a strange collection of dark and light blue weeds, Zac froze, staring at the thing they'd been hiding. He brushed aside more of the weeds, staring at the shape before stopping again. He could recognise a tail when he saw one, even one with a fluke as oddly-shaped as this one had, but he had never seen one like _this_.

Two hands appeared from nowhere, shoving Zac backwards through the water without even touching him, and the mermaid flew up from the rockbed she'd been laying on. As she move, Zac realised the coloured weeds that had hidden the tail were _part_ of it. Bright red hair, the exact same colour as her flukes, flared out around her head, as she shoved him again, looking fierce. Zac raised both hands to signal that he meant no harm, but her attention was pulled away, spotting something behind him. She turned and fled in the style of a natural-born mermaid, a trail of bubbles left in her wake. Zac spun around in time to see a second figure, this one with a light blue tail matching his own, take off after the mermaid.

Zac didn't want to wait around to see if either would return. He turned back toward the mainland and sped away, all thoughts of Sirena's birthday present forgotten.

*~X~*

'I'm glad you came straight to me with this, Zac,' Rita said slowly, looking at the floor of her grotto. Sirena, Nixie and Lyla were sitting on the couch, Zac seated on one of the steps. Rita turned back to him, 'What did the mermaid's tail look like? Can you remember?'

Zac stared at the ground, recalling the mental image. 'It had some sort of weed-like things growing out of it, mostly dark and light blue, and the tail itself was a bright purple - but the flukes... the flukes were red, and looked like two dolphin dorsal fins put together and stretched out. And then just below the waist, there were these two fins,' he gestured, 'I could try and draw it for you,'

'Did you see the back of the tail?' Rita asked, but Zac shook his head.

'She only turned around once, when she left. It looked like she had two dorsal fins, though,' he looked at the three girls, then back at Rita, 'It was definitely a girl, but every mermaid I know has a green tail,'

'Just like there are different races of humans, there are different races of mermaids,' Rita explained, 'The one you met was probably born or transformed in a coral reef pool, although what she would be doing here, I don't know. Reef-born mermaids prefer tropical waters and coral reefs - places like the Great Barrier Reef. That's why their tails are so different - it provides camouflage in the event that they encounter divers unexpectedly.'

'They lay flat on the ground and let the tail do all the work,' Lyla added, 'Fish avoid the "weeds", and people are told they are poisonous, so they will also avoid it.'

'What about the other... merperson?' Nixie asked, 'Like Zac said, mermaids usually have green tails,'

'Remember when Cam was a merman, though?' Zac pointed out, 'He also had a light blue tail,'

'Zac's right, only mermen have blue tails,' Rita told them, 'We know that Cam is no longer a merman, and it couldn't have been Zac that chased after the reef mermaid,'

'Which means there's another merman in the area,' Lyla finished for her. The group looked from one to another as they realised what this meant.

One merman would probably mean more were on their way. And they more than likely weren't as friendly to mermaids as Zac.


	2. 1x2

**Author's Note:**_ Hope you liked the first chapter/teaser. I'm writing these straight onto the server, so there may be a few continuity errors in the story here and there but I'll do my best to avoid goofs. Updates will also be irregular - two chapters in a day and then a month before the next chapter, for example. Sorry in advance..._

**-Bullets**

* * *

'Zac!'

Zac turned around to see Evie running to catch up with him. She stopped beside him, hugging him briefly in greeting.

'I found something we can give to Sirena for her birthday,' she told him excitedly, 'Come on!'

Zac let her lead him to an antique shop, and she pulled him over to a small cabinet. 'There,' she pointed excitedly, 'What do you think?'

Zac looked at the old wooden comb. The top part of it had been carved into the shape of a mermaid, with tiny seashells decorating it.

'And see, because the teeth are so fine, she could use it as a hairpiece,' Evie smiled proudly, 'What do you think?'

'I think she'd like it,' Zac admitted, digging in his pocket, 'How much is it?'

'It's on sale - twenty dollars. We can split it half and half,' Evie had already pulled her purse out, and gestured to the sales attendant.

Five minutes later, they walked back to the Ocean Cafe, the small paper bag clutched in Zac's hand.

'Keep it at yours,' he suggested, 'You know they're always snooping through my stuff, even when I tell them not to,'

Evie smiled, kissing him on the cheek as she took the paper bag. 'I've got to get back to the shop,' she told him, 'I left Carly to cover for me. See you this afternoon?'

'Of course,' Zac grinned as Evie ran off. He noticed the man leaning against the fence as she ran past him - the man turning to glance after Evie before looking back at Zac.

Zac had a feeling he recognised the man, or even worse - the man recognised _him_. Zac glanced away as a bus passed between them, and when he looked back, the man was gone.

That couldn't be right.

*~X~*

The silence of the Moon Pool's cavern was interrupted as Nixie broke the surface with Lyla, the two taking deep breaths.

'I'm just saying, it's a good idea to make sure the Moon Pool is secure for tonight,' Lyla told Nixie, 'If there's mermen in the area, the worst thing that can happen is they take the Moon Pool tonight,'

'It _would_ ruin Sirena's birthday,' Nixie admitted, before raising herself onto the ledge and looking around, 'It looks like everything is okay, though,'

'We have to be careful about leaving,' Lyla warned, 'That was how Zac found it - he saw Aquata leaving.'

'Lyla,'

Lyla stopped looking around as she heard the tone in Nixie's voice. Nixie was very rarely uncertain about things, so when she sounded unsure, it meant something was _really_ off.

'What if there's a whole pod of them?' Nixie asked, 'What if we can't stop them taking the Moon Pool, and Mako?'

Lyla smiled reassuringly, 'Mermen never travelled in pods as large as mermaid pods. Besides, we've got three of us, plus Rita and Zac if things _do_ go bad,'

'And Cam?'

Lyla hesitated. She and Rita were the only ones who were reluctant to trust Cam after his attempt to take over - Nixie had spent time around him at the café and Sirena was willing to give him a second chance if he could prove his trust. Lyla felt that it would take a lot more than simply keeping their secret for her and Rita to trust Cam again.

'What did you get for Sirena's gift?' Lyla asked Nixie, changing the subject.

*~X~*

Zac heard his mother calling as soon as he returned home. He stepped outside, running into his mother and two young boys.

'Zac,' his mother smiled at him, 'You remember your cousins, Tyson and Caleb?'

Zac stared at the two boys as they mumbled identical "hi"'s. They both had sandy blonde hair and brown eyes, and looked around thirteen or fourteen years old - identical twins.

'Sure,' Zac nodded carefully, smiling at the pair.

'And you remember how I said they would be staying here for a few months?' his mother pushed. Zac groaned inwardly - he hadn't remembered that part.

'And that they'll be staying in your room until we get the spare room cleaned out?'

Even better. Zac forced a smile, looking at the two boys. They looked inseparable. 'Sure. Come on, guys, I'll show you in,'

'Your father will bring out a couple of beds for them later,' Mrs. Blakely told him, 'Boys, try not to get under Zac's feet too much.'

'We won't, Aunty Karen,'

'We'll behave, Aunty Karen,'

Zac forced another smile before leading the two boys into his room - a redecorated shed, essentially, with a living space and all.

'Don't touch the computer, and stay out of this part,' he told them straight away, gesturing to the part of the room that had been sectioned off, and hid his bed, 'How long are you guys staying?'

'Until Mum and Dad figure out their divorce,' one of the twins stated, 'I'm Caleb, this is Tyson,'

'I'll probably get you confused for each other,' Zac warned them, 'Do you always dress the same?'

'No,' Tyson scoffed, 'Mum made us wear this because we were going on the plane.'

'You flew? All by yourselves?'

'We're fourteen, idiot,'

Zac stared at the two. 'Right,' he nodded, 'Well, okay. If you don't always look the same then it'll be easier to tell you apart, I guess,'

'Unless we decide to trick you,' Tyson grinned.

Zac glanced at the clock above the TV. He had to get ready for Sirena's party, but he couldn't leave the twins in his room alone, not until he'd moved a few things where they wouldn't find them.

'What's this?' Tyson asked, picking up a coral necklace the girls' pod leader, Marina, had given him, as a token of friendship.

'That's a... a friend gave that to me,' Zac told him, snatching the necklace away and putting it back on the shelf, 'Don't touch that,'

'You like mermaids? Ew,' Caleb said in disgust, tossing a book onto the couch and sifting through the magazines on his coffee table, 'Everything's about swimming and surfing and the beach, is that all you do here?'

'No, there's, um, loads of things to do here,' Zac said haltingly, snatching the book up and hiding it in his bedroom. He heard the TV flick on and came back out to see a news report about a "stunning, new marine discovery", then flicks it off again, 'Can you guys _stop it_!' he cried.

'Someone's a bit tetchy,' Tyson remarked as Zac snatched the remote from him.

'No, I just don't like people going through my stuff,' he shot back. Tyson and Caleb looked at each other, as if unsure of what to make of him.

'Suggest implementing Operation Well-Behaved,' Caleb stated to Tyson.

'Agreed,'

The two of them moved quickly to the couch, sitting on it. 'So, tell us what else there is to do here,' Caleb said calmly. Zac stared at the two, surprised that they had gone from cantankerous to patient in a matter of seconds.

'Well, um,' he gestured, 'There's a nice beach, and there's hiking trails and some great camping spots,' he waved an arm, 'Or there's fishing, or diving or there's skate parks and surfing-'

'Bo-ring,'

'Where do people hang out?'

'Around the beach, at the shops,' Zac gestured vaguely, 'There's the Ocean Cafe, too - people go there sometimes.'

'So pretty much everything to do here is about the water, or is for girls?' Caleb sighed.

'Great,' Tyson added. Zac grimaced.

'Well, find some way to entertain yourselves,' he told them, 'I have to get ready for a friend's birthday-'

'A party?'

'Can we come?'

'No!' Zac cried, then relaxed, 'No, it's just a dinner sort of thing with a few friends. Really small, not many people invited. And no one you would know,'

'A party's a party,' Tyson said, standing up as Caleb copied him.

'Face it, cousin; we're coming with you.'

'You can't,' Zac remembered something, 'Mum and Dad said they were planning on taking you out for dinner on your first night here, to the surf club or somewhere nice,'

'Go to a dinner with a bunch of adults?'

'Bo-ring!'

Zac sighed again, glancing at the clock. If he didn't hurry up, he'd be late.

'You can't come with me, Mum and Dad made plans,' he told them, 'And that's final. Now go... find something to entertain yourselves. I have to get ready,'

The twins groaned, before following Zac's orders and going outside. Once they had closed the door, he scooped up the necklace, along with a few other things, and tucked them under his bed. He would have to find a better hiding place later.

'You're cutting it fine,' Evie commented as he arrived at the café to pick her up.

'Sorry,' he replied, 'My cousins are staying,'

'Cousins?' Evie looped her arm through his, 'There's more than one?'

'Two. Twins - identical twins, too,' he forced himself to relax, 'They're staying in my room, too, which isn't good news as I have so much that they're not supposed to touch,'

'All that mermaid stuff?' Evie grinned, 'They'll figure that you're a diver and you scavenged those things,'

'That's all okay until they try to get me in the pool with them,' he pointed out, 'So I figure we just pretend like I don't go swimming very much outside working hours.'

'If you think that's best,' Evie replied. They had arrived at Rita's, and Evie knocked on the door. It was pulled open by Sirena, who greeted them with a nervous smile.

'Happy birthday!' Evie said, hugging Sirena tightly.

'Thanks,' Sirena kept smiling, but it was clear she was nervous, 'Um, come on in. We're eating on the roof,'

They followed her out onto the patio, where Rita was just setting down another dish of seafood.

'Seafood,' Evie exclaimed, forcing a smile, 'Wonderful,'

'It's my favourite,' Sirena told them, 'But we did make up some land food for you guys and David.'

'Oh look, if it isn't the prodigal merman and his land-dwelling girlfriend,'

Nixie slunk towards them, then smiled as she hugged Evie, 'We should hang out more often, I've hardly seen you these holidays,'

'Well, school goes back day after tomorrow,' Evie said, 'We could go swimming tomorrow, or diving,'

'I think we'd all like to go swimming tomorrow,' Lyla replied, appearing beside Nixie, 'Hi, Zac,'

The doorbell rang and Rita moved for the stairs.

'That'll be David,' she told them, 'Take a seat, I'll let him in,'

David found them, and sat beside Lyla. Sirena had positioned herself at one end of the table, with Zac, Evie, and Nixie on one side and David and Lyla on the other, and Rita at the other end.

'There's an empty seat,' Nixie commented, looking at Lyla, 'I thought you said there'd be eight of us?'

'She's probably running late,' Lyla replied. Nixie caught the uneasy glance Lyla and Rita swapped.


	3. 1x3

'Oh, thank you, everyone,' Sirena said, smiling at her guests, 'These are all beautiful gifts,'

She was already wearing the seashell necklace David had made for her, and the matching bracelet Nixie had made to match, as well as the hairpiece Zac and Evie had given her. Lyla hadn't given her anything yet, hinting that she would receive it later in the night, while Rita had mentioned something about her gift waiting downstairs.

'Are we ready?' Nixie asked Lyla as Sirena said goodbye to David, Evie, and Zac. It had been Zac's idea, however, to at least accompany the girls to the Moon Pool, in case there was anything bad lurking in the waters around Mako Island. He had volunteered to stay on the island overnight and escort them back as well.

'Zac will meet us at the entrance to the grotto in about twenty minutes,' Sirena told the others as she returned. Rita placed her hands on Sirena's shoulders and smiled.

'Stay safe,' she told Sirena, who nodded.

Zac stayed silent behind them, like a good shadow as they sped to the island, and when they surface inside the Moon Pool, Sirena gasped in surprise.

'Aquata!'

Aquata dived into the water to greet her sister. 'Was your day as good as it should be?' she asked, smiling as she took in the new necklace, bracelet, and hairpiece Sirena was still wearing.

'It is now!'

Sitting on the beach, Zack heard a slightly eerie sound carried to him on the wind. It took him a while to realise it was the girls singing, the sound travelling up through the volcano and being carried to him on the wind. That sound of singing echoed across Mako Island that night, until after the moon had set.

*~X~*

'Is that where you went for your birthday, Lyla?' Nixie asked, 'To visit the pod?'

Lyla nodded, 'I asked Aquata to come back, for Sirena's birthday,'

'Thank you, Lyla!' Sirena crowed, hugging her pod sister tightly. Nixie and Aquata couldn't stop grinning.

Sunrise came, lighting up the beach. Zac wandered along the sand, diving into the shallow waters and swimming out deeper. He knew the girls would want to stay around for a little while, so going out onto the reef for a while wouldn't hurt. It would give him time to stretch his muscles a little, at least.

He felt the slight disturbance in the water at the same time he turned to see the three figures in the midst of the reef, two facing the third. Even at a distance, he recognised the reef mermaid's tail, and the two facing off against her appeared to be mermen, with the same tail as Zac. All three had their hands raised, palms pointing outwards at each other in gestures Zac recognised as using magic.

He sped towards the group, at the same time one of the mermen released what looked like a fireball at the mermaid. She dodged it, diving to the side and snapping her side fins closed as she froze the water around the attacker. The second merman took advantage of her distraction, and made a pushing motion with his hands. The mermaid flew backwards, hitting one of the rocks hard, and she lay still. Zac moved towards her hesitantly, instantly recognising the browny-red smokelike substance that had begun rising from her body.

The two mermen hovered close to her, waiting for her to get up, before the second turned and spotted Zac. He raised a hand, but Zac moved faster, throwing the merman back through the water and following through by freezing the water between the mermaid and the two mermen. Before they could swim around, he sped to the mermaid's side and picked her up gently, noticing the tear in one of her side fins, and her upper dorsal fin.

The ice wall shattered, the two mermen approaching. Zac saw another blue tail in his peripheral vision, and turned, speeding towards the island. Somebody would have to warn the girls.

*~X~*

Nixie turned her face towards the sunlight pouring down the shaft. 'I'm supposed to be going swimming with Evie today,' she told the others, 'We should get going soon,'

'What if there's mermen out there?' Sirena asked. They had told Aquata about Zac's sighting, and she had begun to worry.

'Zac should be waiting,' Nixie pointed out.

'Zac is powerful, but against a group of mermen, he would be too weak to stand up to them,' Aquata advised, 'Did you organise a way for him to tell you if the area is clear?'

'He was going to swim up here when it was clear,' Lyla replied, looking down into the cave, 'There he is!'

Zac resurfaced, shaking water from his hair as he lifted the unconscious mermaid above water. Nixie, Lyla, Sirena and Aquata stared at him as he gestured.

'She got shoved against some rocks,' he explained, 'She's bleeding, help her,'

'Why did you hurt her?' Aquata asked, but Zac shook his head.

'She was fighting with two mermen, out near the reef,' he explained, 'They threw her against one of the rocks - I blocked them and brought her here,'

'Mermen!' Sirena gasped.

'How many?' Lyla asked, helping Sirena pull the mermaid onto the floor of the cave. Zac shrugged.

'I saw two, maybe three. There could be more, though,'

'Did they follow you?' Nixie asked. Zac shook his head.

'They can't have. I swam too fast for them,'

'Regardless, if there's mermen out there then we can't leave,' Aquata stated, turning to see Lyla evaporating the water off her tail, 'What are you doing?'

'Getting legs,' Lyla replied, around the same moment she turned back into her human form. Sirena changed seconds later.

'I'm going to freeze the entrance, to stop anyone getting in here,' Zac told the girls, 'Be careful,'

He sunk below the water as Aquata stared at her younger sister and Lyla as they moved around the unconscious mermaid.

'It looks like only the membrane was torn,' Lyla said, 'But we should try and heal her,'

She held her Moon Ring out over the girl, Sirena copying her. The tears in the membrane closed, although the blood would need to be washed off.

'Aquata, you've been near the reefs,' Sirena began, as Zac resurfaced, 'Do you recognise her?'

'No,' Aquata admitted, 'Though she does look familiar. Maybe she has a sister?'

'It's possible,' Sirena said, then realised Aquata was staring at her, 'What?'

'You have legs,' Aquata stated bluntly, 'You walk like you were born on land,'

'It's not that hard to get the hang of,' Nixie told her, 'What's weird is all the customs and silly little rituals,'

Aquata turned to see Zac pulling himself out of the water, drying off his tail as he did. He moved to the unconscious mermaid and bent over her.

'She's breathing, so she's still alive,' he told the others, 'She's probably just unconscious. She did hit the rocks pretty hard,'

'Maybe she's a land-dweller,' Sirena suggested, 'Should we dry her tail off and see?'

'She might not be from a reef we know,' Nixie pointed out, 'If we dry off her tail, she might begin to flake,'

'Wait, what?' Zac asked, turning to Nixie, who rolled her eyes.

'Everyone knows that natural-born mermaids don't have legs. If you dry off a natural-born mermaid's tail... well, it's like leaving a fish out in the sun to dry,'

'You have legs,' Zac pointed out.

'We used magic to get our legs,' Lyla explained, 'Just like magic makes you grow a tail in water,'

'So don't dry her tail off, okay,' Sirena raised her hands, 'We can't stay here forever, though,'

Zac looked around. 'If anyone can open the land entrance, I'll go back out and see if the coast is clear,'

'Here,' Sirena stood up, leading him, 'I'll do it.'

'Sirena!'

Sirena turned back to Aquata, 'I'll be right back! I'm only opening the door for him,'

Zac climbed out through the entrance and heard it close behind him, shutting the girls off. He knew he could melt the ice wall he'd built when he needed to, but first he needed to make sure it was safe to do so. Carefully, he started towards the beach.

*~X~*

Crouching behind a thick, leafy bush, Zac watched as the group of men pulled the boat up onto the beach, shouting directions to each other.

'Are they the mermen you saw?'

'Sirena!'

'Sorry,' she smiled apologetically, 'I wanted to come and see as well,'

Zac sighed, feeling his racing heart slow. 'Yes, I can see the two that attacked that mermaid.'

'Which ones?'

'Right at the front, dragging the boat,'

Sirena made a face as one of the group - clearly the youngest - began ordering the others. 'It looks like they're setting up camp,'

'That's bad, right?'

'For us, it is,' crouching low, Sirena moved to the next bush, closer to the men. She had noticed that they seemed allergic to clothing, all of them wearing denim shorts or board shorts, but not a single one of them wearing any shoes or shirts. Most of them appeared to be wearing necklaces, too, carved from shells or wood.

The bushes moved beside her and she looked over to see Zac. 'We should go invisible, so we can get a closer look.'

Before Zac could stop her, she had disappeared. Watching the ground, he saw footprints appear, leading towards the men, and groaned, before disappearing himself and following her. He could see that they were definitely setting up a camp of some sort, and it looked like they were planning to stay for a while.

Zac bumped into a stack of cans, knocking them over accidentally, and the noise drew attention to his location. One of the two mermen he'd seen on the reef went back to work, which appeared to be bailing water out of the bottom of the boat.

'Call up Tigris and Aquiius,' the youngest called out, 'This area looks deserted. Fenn, once you've done that, help Aaron with the shelter,'

'Sure,' Fenn, the one bailing water out of the boat, said dejectedly. He scooped up another large bucketful of water and threw it over the side.

Zac heard the shriek and turned to see Sirena standing behind Fenn, fully visible and drenched in water. She changed suddenly, legs disappearing, and fell to the ground.

'Not as deserted as you think!' Fenn crowed, turning to Sirena, 'Mermaid!'

Zac ran, stepping between Fenn and Sirena as he dropped the invisibility. Fenn stopped, taking a surprised step back as Zac felt all eyes on him.

'You!'

Zac glanced over to see the other guy from the reef, the one he had fought with, staring at him. It was at that moment that he also realised Fenn was taller than him, more muscular, and clearly older.

'Stay away from her,' he warned the others, who were all moving to close a circle around the two. He saw Sirena was trying to dry off her tail - and fast - and turned to face the other men. They all looked muscular, and like they'd grown up surfing. He knew he was hopelessly outnumbered if it came to a fight, and no matter how strong Sirena and his magic were, the odds were still eight against two.

Not good odds, by his reckoning.


	4. 1x4

Zac stared around at the men. Most of them looked around his age, maybe a little older. Six of the eight had the blue eyes typical of natural-born merfolk.

'This is the one that was on the reef just before,' Fenn, the nearest one, told the others. He had dark blonde hair and was much taller than Zac, and took a threatening step forwards. Zac helped Sirena to her feet, pulling her back as he moved away from Fenn at the same time the other guy from the reef put a hand on Fenn's shoulder.

'He didn't hurt either of us,' the other warned, turning to Zac.

'This is the one that intervened?' the youngest of the group asked. He had black hair that swept down to his shoulders and wore a carved trident necklace. He moved forward, 'I'm Tory, the leader of this group,' he offered a hand to Zac - a peace gesture. Zac hesitated, before shaking it, the two sizing each other up.

'Zac,' Zac said slowly, as Tory let his hand go.

'Sorry about the trouble on the reef earlier,' Tory offered, shooting an angry glare at Fenn and his friend, 'Some of our group don't understand the meaning of "peace".'

'She came at us first!' Fenn complained, 'Aaron and I only defended ourselves,'

'You threw her against rocks after trying to burn her,' one of the other men spoke up, 'It hardly looked like you were _defending_ yourselves!'

'Knock it off!' Tory held up his hands and the two quietened. 'Tigris, we've already established that Fenn and Aaron were attacking, give it a rest. You two,' he pointed to Fenn and his friend, Aaron, 'Get back to your tasks. Zac,' he turned to Zac and Sirena, addressing them like friends, 'We have a healer who could help the mermaid if you know where she is,'

'We're not going to lead you to her,' Sirena stated venomously. Tory seemed to notice her for the first time.

'You are...?'

'Sirena,' Sirena replied, 'Of the Mako Island pod. You're trespassing,'

'The waters were unguarded,' Tory replied smoothly, 'We assumed the island was abandoned,'

'Well, it's not,'

'Sorry for the intrusion,' Tory told them, 'But we _were_ sort of planning to stay at least for the season. Maybe even permanently.'

'There's a human settlement on the mainland, just over that way,' Zac warned, 'We - humans - come out here often, for camping and fishing,'

'"We"?' Tory arched an eyebrow, then looked more carefully at Zac, 'You're a half-merman?'

'You sound surprised,'

Tory gestured to his group, who were beginning to return to their tasks, 'We sensed a strong rise of merman power in this area - too strong to be a single merman. Are there others like you around?'

'There was,' Zac replied carefully, 'He's lost his powers now, though,'

'Good,' Tory nodded, 'As I said before, we're mostly peaceful. I didn't want to have to fight someone for a home,'

'You can't stay here,' Sirena told him, 'There's already one pod here,'

'A mermaid pod,' Tory pointed out, 'We're willing to share the island if you are,'

'We have special things on this island,' Zac said carefully, 'Places that are sacred to the mermaids of these parts.'

'Point us in the direction of a good campsite well away from those things,' Tory suggested, 'Look, we're not hoping to take over the island. Most of us have been cast out of our own pods and need somewhere on land to live, but we can't exactly make the connection between the two cultures to survive there,' he shrugged, 'Some of us, like Fenn and Rhys and myself, we still have to go to school but there isn't a teacher among us. Tigris is looking to live on land permanently,' he waved an arm, 'We just need somewhere to live while we get our bearings and learn to live like land-dwellers,'

'Find somewhere else, then,' Sirena told them, 'Mako is not up for grabs,'

'We're not trying to take the island from you, Sirena,' Tory replied.

'Sirena, a word,' Zac pulled her away from Tory, towards the water, 'I think we should give them a chance,'

'But this is _our_ island!' Sirena protested.

'I know, but he seems to be telling the truth,' Zac shrugged, 'Maybe we just give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for now,'

Sirena took a deep breath. 'You saw two of them attack a mermaid not three hours ago, and you're suggesting we give them a chance to find and destroy the Moon Pool? Or even risk exposing us?'

'We need to just work out a truce,' Zac told her, 'Tell them what parts of the island they can visit and what waters they can stick to, and explain some of the things about living on land. Listen,' he cut her off before she could protest, 'You, Nixie and Lyla needed help to adapt to living on land, right? And you got that help, from Rita. Maybe they need that same sort of help, but don't know how to ask for it,'

Sirena glared at him. 'We should talk to the girls about it first,' she told him.

*~X~*

'What happened?' Zac asked as they returned.

'I could ask the same about you,' Aquata told Sirena, 'Where did you go?'

'I went with Zac,' she told her sister, 'Don't worry, I was safe,'

'What happened to the reef girl?' Zac asked, staring at the damp patch on the floor where she had lain when he left. Lyla and Nixie shrugged.

'She woke up and dove into the water,' Nixie told him, 'Shattered your ice wall to get out and we were too afraid to follow her. Did you see any mermen?'

'There's a whole pod of them,' Sirena replied, slipping into the water, 'About eight, maybe more. They have a pod leader and everything,'

Aquata stared between Sirena and Zac, 'You didn't confront them?'

'Sirena got hit by water and changed,' Zac explained, 'We were invisible before that. Then we spoke to their pod leader, Tory,'

'He _says_ they just want somewhere to live before they move to the mainland,' Sirena told the others, 'And there's a few of them that still need to go to school and stuff.'

'They're outcasts, like you were,' Zac said defensively, 'We told them there was already a pod in the area,'

'But there isn't,' Aquata pointed out. Lyla cleared her throat and gestured to herself, Sirena, Nixie, and Zac.

'Plus Rita, but only occasionally,' Nixie added. Aquata frowned.

'We're only five in number, but a group of three or more mermaids is a pod, technically,' Sirena pointed out.

'Anyway, we told Tory there was already a pod in the area, and he said his group was more than willing to share, so long as we were as well,' Zac shrugged, 'I think we could give them a chance. Divide the island in half, tell them to keep away from this half both on ground and in water. It'll protect the moon pool, at least, and once they learn to live on land, they'll leave,'

'They might not,' Lyla pointed out.

'Whatever they try to throw at us, it can't be worse than what Cam had in mind,' Zac stated, feeling instantly bad for taking such a low shot at his friend.

His comment seemed to make the girls think. 'I think we should give them a chance,' he told them, then held up a single finger, 'But only one,'

'That sounds fair, I guess,' Lyla stated slowly, 'If we catch them snooping around where they shouldn't, or they risk exposing ours or their secret, then they have to leave,'

'What if they decide they don't want to leave?' Aquata pointed out, 'There are eight of them, and even with this other mermaid outcast, you're still outnumbered.'

'We could get Evie's help, and maybe Cam - if he proves trustworthy enough,'

'He still hasn't told anyone about us,' Zac pointed out, 'I think he might feel bad for getting so jealous, too,'

'I'd rather not take the risk,' Aquata stated, 'Draw a border, if you must, but do not trust them - they are bluefins, natural-born mermen to whom the idea of mermaid-merman alliance is difficult to comprehend. They cannot be trusted.'

She looked up at the top of the volcano, judging the time of day. 'It's getting late. I must return to the pod.'

'I'm sorry you couldn't learn your legs,' Lyla told her, 'It would have been fun to have you at the dinner,'

'Maybe one day,' Aquata replied, turning to Sirena, 'For now, I'm content with swimming.'

The two sisters hugged each other tightly, before Aquata sunk below the water and disappeared through the cave.

*~X~*

Tory stared at the three girls and Zac. 'This is your pod?' he asked dubiously. He had readily agreed to meet them to draw borders and form a treaty, and had brought Aquiius, the oldest member of the pod, and Loren, their healer.

'Some of it, yes,' Lyla replied, 'This is our island, but after discussing it, we've agreed to let you stay, but,' she held up a hand before any of the three mermen could interrupt, 'There will be a few conditions,'

'Lay them down, please,' Tory replied, 'We don't want another war,'

'First, you keep to the southern end of the island,' Zac told them, 'You do not venture the waters around the northern end, nor do you explore the northern half. If you find a disturbance in the northern half, you report it to one or all of us,'

'That sounds fair,' Tory agreed.

'Second, you and your group avoid changing form while on the mainland,' Sirena stated, 'Avoid contact with water as much as you can, and try to avoid odd behaviour. On top of that, do not act like you know us at school or around, not at first.'

'That was our plan anyway,' Loren commented, 'Your secret is our secret, mermaid,'

'Third,' Nixie grimaced, 'We will teach you about humans, here each day. All of you will listen to us, because we've managed to learn to live on land - miraculously - and we know it better than all of you,'

'Fourth, it will be your job to protect your part of the island,' Lyla added, 'Scare fishes away from the area if people come here with fishing lines, and do _not_ tell people you live on Mako. If anyone asks, tell them you live on a house boat or something.'

'Keep people away from the island,' Sirena explained, 'Because if we can all keep people away, we get to have it to ourselves and that's more space for all of us. Plus, it's less likely people will find out our secret if they don't come here.'

'They all sound like fair conditions,' Tory agreed, 'I'll inform my group. Sirena, Lyla, Nixie,' he bowed to them, 'I speak for my pod brothers when I say we are most grateful you are letting us stay. Zac,' he held a hand out to shake Zac's, 'I look forward to sharing these waters with you, and sharing the land with you also. Consider this treaty sealed,'

'Good,' Nixie turned to the others, 'I have to get back. I promised Evie I'd swim with her today,'

'Two more things,' Zac said, the thought suddenly occurring to him, 'If we find any of your group - _any_ of them - hurting mermaids or other mermen, you're all gone. And there are a couple of humans who know about merfolk,' he added, 'One of them is Evie, my girlfriend; the other is Cam, my... friend,' he hesitated, 'Be careful of Cam. He can be dangerous, and doesn't always know himself.'

'Duly noted,' Tory nodded.


	5. 1x5

'...And sometimes a double negative is used when the speaker is nervous, or lying. This isn't always the case, but it's been likened to a Freudian slip...'

Zac stared blankly at the board as Mr. Lefrey droned on about literary techniques. He wasn't planning on becoming a writer anytime soon (**A/N:** _Why the fuck not?_) so he didn't understand why he had to sit through an English double at the start of Monday, of all things.

He had zoned out to the point that he didn't realise Mr Lefrey was talking to him until a whiteboard marker was thrown at him. Several of the students laughed.

'Zac, because you look _so_ interested in lying techniques, why don't you give us an example of one?' Mr Lefrey stated. Zac blinked at him, scanning his own mind for something to use.

'Um, double-bluffing?' he offered carefully. Mr Lefrey gestured for him to explain, and he glanced at Cam for help, then Evie, who shrugged. Cam still wasn't meeting his gaze.

He was saved by a knock on the door, and everyone snapped to attention. Two teenagers stood in the doorway, blocking it completely.

'Is this... double English?' the taller of the two asked. Zac recognised one of them straight away, but he didn't know who the other was.

'You guys are new?' Mr Lefrey asked. The two nodded.

'I'm Fenn, this is Rhys,' Fenn gestured first to himself, then to a small, slightly thinner boy with short, dark curls. Rhys managed a weak smile - he was clearly nervous.

'Take a seat,' Mr Lefrey gestured. Fenn and Rhys looked at each other uncertainly, then back at Mr Lefrey.

'Where?'

Lefrey rolled his eyes, 'There's four empty seats, boys. Pick one,'

Zac realised as soon as Fenn saw him that the empty seat beside him was about to be taken. Reluctantly, he pulled his bag off the seat as Fenn and Rhys moved up the aisle. Surprisingly, Fenn chose the empty seat beside Cam, while the youth called Rhys slid in beside Zac, mouthing a silent thanks.

'So this is human school,' Fenn remarked after the class was finished, 'I thought it'd be smaller,'

'It's not like what your idea of school is,' Zac replied. He had found Rhys to be likeable enough, but maybe the previous day's events had caused him to be wary of Fenn.

'Zac,' Evie half-skipped up to him and hugged him, Zac aware that Fenn and Rhys were watching him curiously.

'Is that how you say hello?' Rhys asked naively. Evie let Zac go and looked at the two boys either side of him, 'New friends?'

'This is Fenn, and Rhys,' Zac gestured to each, taking the opportunity to move out from between them by putting an arm around Evie's shoulders, 'This is my girlfriend, Evie,'

'Girlfriend?' Rhys asked, and Fenn rolled his eyes.

'Like a podmate,' he explained simply, 'We got given lockers, but I can't read these symbols,' he told Zac, handing a piece of paper over. Zac recognised the numbers easily.

'This way,' he told them, 'Your lockers are right beside each other,'

'Your new friends seem a bit strange,' Evie said softly as Zac led her and the two along the pathway. He was about to tell her they weren't exactly normal humans but was nearly run down by another from the mermen pod.

'I know you, I saw you yesterday!' the newcomer exclaimed, 'Zac, right? From the-'

'Niall, not right now,' Fenn hissed. "Niall" looked first at Fenn, then at Rhys, then at Zac and Evie, before remembering.

'Oh!' he gasped, covering his mouth as his blue eyes widened, 'Sorry, I've done this land thing before but I'm just not smart with talking to people. Hi,' he smiled at Evie. Niall had light blonde hair that was swept up, and he was shorter than Zac.

'"Land thing"?' Evie quoted, looking at Zac, 'Something you need to tell me?'

Zac glanced at Fenn and Rhys, then at Niall, 'These guys aren't from _around_ here,' he told her. She frowned, not quite understanding until he pulled at the necklace the Mako mermaids had given him.

'They might be related to some _friends_ of mine,' he told her, gesturing to the necklace. Her eyes widened as she looked at the trio of mermen.

'Oh!' she looked back at Zack, 'Okay,' she smiled a little too brightly.

'Locker is this way,' Zac told the others, gesturing. Fenn clamped a hand on his shoulder.

'So this land-girl knows?' he asked, 'About everything?'

'Yeah,' Zac and Evie replied together, 'Everything,' Zac repeated, stopping in front of a set of lockers, 'These are yours,'

'All of them?' Rhys asked. Zac shook his head.

'No, just these two,' he replied, pointing. Before he could react, Rhys raised a hand and unlocked the locker, without even touching it. The door swung open into his waiting hand.

'Okay,' Zac dropped his arm from Evie's shoulders, 'You _can't_ do that - land people don't have special magic powers, so doing that sort of thing will draw attention to yourself, which is exactly what we _don't_ want,'

'What about freezing a water fountain?' Niall asked.

'Yeah, that's not a good thing either,' Evie told him, grimacing, 'Anyway, Zac, I have to go and do things for the paper, so... look after yourself,' she kissed him on the cheek before walking away fast. Fenn looked after her curiously.

'Where do I get one of those?' he asked. Zac raised his eyebrows.

'A girlfriend?'

'Yeah,'

'We'll move on to that later,' Zac replied.

***~X~***

Nixie stared at the solution in her glass beaker.

'This isn't working,' she sighed. The task was supposed to be simple - heat the two liquids together until they were boiling, remove the beaker from the heat and add the third element.

'Use your powers,' Tory suggested. Of all the people she could have gotten stuck with, Nixie had to admire her luck at being stuck with Tory, a _merman_ for crying out loud. Across the room, she could see Sirena and Lyla having a much easier time.

'He said it's supposed to be a bright green when you remove it from the boil, right?' Tory asked, holding his hand beside the beaker, 'So, we heat it ourselves until it goes green. Like that,' he grinned at her, looking at her to smile. Nixie returned the smile half-heartedly, before glancing down at the beaker.

'Tory!'

Her warning was fast enough to alert him, and they both dived out of the way as the beaker exploded, the liquid flying in all directions. Nixie looked up in time to see the droplets freeze in mid-air and fall to the ground as tiny crystal-like beads.

'What did you do?' the teacher, Ms. Eckel, stared at the two, stunned, 'I said bright _green_, not bright _yellow_!'

'Sorry, it was my fault,' Tory offered, 'Nixie was taking notes and I was supposed to be watching it,'

'Get this cleaned up,' Ms Eckel sighed, before turning back to the rest of the class. Nixie glared at Tory as he mimed wiping his brow.

'Too close,' she warned him.

***~X~***

Zac bent over David, who was curled on the ground.

'That's an impressive serve you've got, mate,' someone told Rhys as he knelt beside Zac.

'I didn't kill him, did I?' Rhys asked hesitantly. Zac shook his head as Mr Redfern leaned over David.

'He's just winded,' Redfern told them, 'Help him off the court and we'll play on,'

'I've got this,' Rhys said, gesturing for Zac to move back. Almost sensing what was about to happen, Zac held Rhys' arm.

'_I've_ got this,' he told Rhys, who hesitated.

'Yeah, probably better that you've got this,' he said, standing up again. Zac pulled David to his feet gently and helped him off the court, Redfern waiting long enough for them to be out of the way before gesturing for everyone to play on. Zac gestured to Rhys as he returned to the game.

'From now on, be careful with your strength,' he warned the merman.

***~X~***

'So how come you're here?' Tyson asked Niall.

'And how come you're so sketchy around water?' Caleb added.

'My pod moves around heaps,' Niall replied, 'But we've sort of settled down for a while, maybe even forever,'

'Where do you live?' Caleb asked.

'Out on the water,' Niall replied, pointing vaguely, 'What about you guys? Did your pod move as well?'

'What's a "pod"?'

'Is that like a pod of dolphins?'

'It's like...' Niall scanned his mind, searching for the right word to describe it, 'Like, we're brothers and we live together and we have one big boss called Tory,'

'Oh, like a family!'

'Our family's breaking up,' Tyson said, 'It sucks, because Mum and Dad were talking about splitting us up,'

'And we don't want to get split up,' Caleb said, 'What about your parents?'

'I don't have any parents,' Niall replied, 'What are parents?'

Tyson and Caleb exchanged a look and then looked at Niall. 'No wonder you're weird,' Tyson stated.

'No parents,' Caleb shook his head.

'I have my brothers, though,' Niall pointed out, 'They look out for me,'

'Brothers are s'posed to do that, idiot,' Caleb said, 'Look, you can be our brother as well. Then we can be three!'

Niall grinned as the twins threw an arm over each of his shoulders, one on either side.

***~X~***

'These guys are _ridiculous_,' Lyla cried as she paced around in the grotto, 'That little one, Niall, was playing with two other kids at the water fountain, spraying others with it. And then when I hid him in the photography room, he didn't seem to understand _why_!'

'Tory almost splashed both of us with our solution in chemistry,' Nixie commented, 'But he froze the drops before they hit us, so I guess he redeemed himself,'

'He also took the blame,' Sirena pointed out.

'He's a pod leader, of course he's going to be the most responsible one,' Lyla sighed, 'Zac said that Rhys nearly knocked David out during volleyball, and Fenn - do you know what he did to say hello?' she asked the others, her voice rising in pitch.

'No, what?'

'He _kissed_ me!'

'What?' Nixie spluttered, then burst out laughing, 'He kissed you?'

'Yes! And then he didn't understand what was wrong with it until I explained. Now _everyone_ thinks we're together!' she fell onto the couch, 'This is a disaster. We can't let them stay,'

'Well, where else are they gonna go?' Nixie asked, 'All they need is someone to explain this to them.'

'They _are_ trying,' Sirena told Lyla, 'Fenn did say that he thought it was a normal way for males and females to say hello,'

'And Niall was just trying to fit in and make friends,' Nixie added, 'They _are_ trying,'

'Although,' Sirena turned to Nixie, 'We should tell Rhys not to hit balls so hard,'

Rita entered at that moment, flustered.

'How was your first day?' she asked the girls.

'Totally ordinary,' Nixie replied drily.

'A total disaster,' Lyla replied honestly, 'There's four mermen that started today, and they've _clearly_ never lived on land before,'

'Remember what you were like when you first got legs,' Rita reminded them, 'If you're going to continue this alliance, you'll need to be patient with them. At least they didn't ask _you_ flat out if you were a mermaid,' she added. Sirena, Nixie and Lyla swapped horrified expressions, and she waved a hand, 'They waited until they were in the office, at least. Then the one called Niall asked.'

'How could he tell?' Lyla asked. Rita tried to hide an amused smirk.

'Apparently, I don't stink,'


	6. 1x6

Zac felt exhausted.

Tory had insisted on him accompanying them back to Mako, to give them all a "basic run-down" on human interaction. He couldn't stop himself laughing over Fenn's way of greeting Lyla, but he knew that it wouldn't be funny for long. Everyone had then started pestering him with questions about "the girlfriends" and if they were like sirens or were they more like podmates, or were they just a closer variation of a pod brother or pod sister?

And then after that had come the inevitable. It had never occurred to him that merfolk didn't reproduce the same way humans did, not even when he was in mer-form. Thankfully, one of the older mermen had stepped in and explained it in terms the others could understand. After that, they had insisted on going hunting - taking down a dangerous shark and several small fish to eat - and then Zac had had to swim back to the main land. It was well after ten, and he knew he'd be exhausted tomorrow if he didn't get some sleep soon.

He groaned as he spotted a light on in his room, and trudged up the steps, pushing the door open to find the twins sprawled on the floor, playing a racing game on his Xbox.

'Guys, c'mon,' he sighed, kicking an empty packet of M&Ms out of the way, 'I'm about to go to bed,'

'Where did you go after school?' Tyson asked.

'And where were you the night before last?'

'You didn't come home,'

'Your mum was worried,'

'She was only worried 'cos you told her,' Zac told the pair, 'Come on, switch it off. Bedtime,'

'But we're not tired!' they exclaimed in unison. Zac groaned, walking into his actual bedroom and falling on the bed. He kicked his shoes off and pulled the covers over his body. As an extra, he pulled a pillow over his head to block out the noise, and fell asleep.

***~X~***

'Eight new students in total,' Evie told Zac the next morning, 'Three of them are Ms Santos' nieces, four of them are from that... Bluefin group,' she said hesitantly, recalling the surname they'd given themselves, 'And one new girl from the Whitsundays,'

'Whitsundays?' Zac asked, looking at the piece of paper Evie was holding. Of the eight photographs on it, there was only one he didn't recognise - she had curled, dark brown hair and fair skin, and bright green eyes that he thought he recognised.

'What's her name?' he asked, pointing to the new girl's photo.

'Charli Astor,' Evie replied, 'Why? Do you know her?'

'I think so,' Zac replied, 'The Whitsundays, they're near the Great Barrier Reef, aren't they?'

'Right on top of it, pretty much,' Evie replied, 'What's that got to do with you knowing her?'

'I think I know who the other mermaid in the area is,' he said softly. Evie's eyes widened.

'Well, why don't we interview her? Get an angle on starting school from a new kid?'

'Sounds like a good idea,' Zac grinned. He stopped as soon as he saw Rhys running towards him, though.

'We couldn't stop it,' Rhys said breathlessly, 'It-it just happened, there wasn't even any water around!'

'What happened?' Zac asked. Rhys gestured.

'Come look!'

Zac and Evie ran after Rhys, who led them around to one of the gardens thick with plants.

'Fenn! I found Zac,' Rhys called out.

'About time! I had to go invisible twice!'

Fenn appeared as Rhys pulled two bushes aside, struggling to sit up. Zac stared at the other guy, before glancing around to make sure nobody was coming near and kneeling down.

'I tried evaporating it, but it's not going away,' Fenn told him, panicked, 'I don't get it, I wasn't even splashed with water,'

'It sometimes happens when you step in a puddle,' Zac admitted, looking around, 'But there's no puddles around. And that doesn't explain why it's not going away.'

Evie whirled around as she heard footsteps, and straightened up as Fenn disappeared again. Zac and Rhys stood up, hiding the spot where Fenn lay as Cam rounded the corner.

'What are you doing?' Cam asked, looking from Evie to Zac and Rhys. Zac folded his arms.

'Bit of an emergency,' he said, 'Nothing that needs to worry you,'

He realised how stupid the words sounded as soon as they were out of his mouth. Cam stared at him in surprise.

'Nothing that needs to worry me?' he repeated, 'Since when has your fishiness been nothing that needs to worry me?'

'Since it's not his "fishiness",' Rhys stated, 'Flip off, Land-dweller,'

'Rhys!'

Cam's eyes flicked straight to the spot where Fenn's voice had come from, the penny dropping instantly. He looked at Zac.

'I'll keep lookout,' he stated, disappearing back around the corner. Zac made sure he was definitely gone before turning back to Fenn as he reappeared.

'Can we trust that one?' Fenn asked.

'Sort of, I think,' Zac replied, 'He won't tell anyone, if that's what you mean,'

'That's a relief,' Fenn gestured to the tail, 'Now get rid of this thing,'

Zac held his hand over the tail, concentrating hard to lift all the moisture from it. It seemed like a drawn battle until Rhys and Fenn joined in, all three concentrating hard.

The tail disappeared, replaced by Fenn's legs, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

'That was too close,' Rhys said.

***~X~***

'Where did you live before you moved here?' Evie asked sweetly. Charli smirked.

'Whitsunday Island,' she replied, 'I've lived near the ocean most of my life, just haven't been much of a water junkie myself. I'm hydrophobic,' she added, 'I get nervous even when I spill a glass of water on myself,'

'Really? Evie asked, 'Is it like an obsessive-compulsive thing?'

'Well,' she bit her lip, 'Previous events in my life sort of led me to a fear of water. I guess you could say it is - I always have to be dry,'

'Did you ever live anywhere aside from Whitsunday Island?' Zac asked. He was almost certain he knew who their mysterious reef mermaid was.

'Yeah, up in Sweden for a while, but we came back here about two years ago,' she was smiling again, 'I love the snow. It's weird, isn't it? I hate water, but I love snow,'

Evie nodded sceptically as she took down notes. 'What about your parents? What do they do for work, and what prompted the move down here?'

'My parents are marine biologists, specialising in coral and tropical waters species,' she hesitated, 'The move, however... I moved with my sister. We had a huge fight with our parents. They wanted to move to the Caribbean and we just wanted to stay here. We sort of ran away,' she grinned like a child.

'And what sort of work were you hoping to get into after school?'

'I have no idea,' she laughed again, 'Something that has absolutely nothing to do with water, preferably,'

***~X~***

'That was a complete waste of time,' Zac sighed as they made their way to their last class - biology. 'She's either totally normal, or she's got her backstory down pat,'

'She had photos in her folder of Sweden,' Evie replied, 'So I'm putting money on the totally normal card. Why's it so important to find this reef girl, anyway?'

'I don't know,' Zac shrugged, 'Last time I saw her, she was badly hurt. I guess I just want to know if she's okay,'

'You're not being swept off your feet by some other girl?' Evie asked; Zac chuckled.

'Hoping to get rid of me so you can get with Fenn?'

'Maybe,' she grinned, 'He is a hunky merman, after all,'

Zac laughed, shoving her gently into the classroom. 'No, I'm not turning an eye to any new girls in town. I'm just curious is all,'

He glanced over to see the empty seat beside Cam had been filled once again, this time by none other than Charli Astor. They had their heads bent together, talking about something, and Cam glanced up as he sat down, before returning his full attention to Charli. It occurred to Zac that he might not be interested in any new girls in town, but it looked like Cam was.

Nixie wasn't going to like that.


	7. 2x1

_Hope you're enjoying it so far. Let me know thoughts :)_

**-Bullets**

* * *

Tyson and Caleb grimaced at each other as they scrolled through the computer's history.

'Mermaids, mer_men_, tridents,' Tyson shook his head, 'Our cousin is a weirdo,'

'D'you think mermaids might be real?' Caleb asked, 'Niall talks like he lives in the water, and his "brothers" look nothing like each other. Plus, all I've ever seen them eat is seafood.'

The two looked at each other. 'What about the principal's nieces? They're really weird, and they freak out about water,'

'Caleb, if we suspected everyone who freaked out around water of being a mermaid, then we'd have to include ourselves in that list,' Tyson pointed out, before shoving his twin aside, and clicking on one of the history tabs, 'What's this trident thing about?'

'What are you two doing?' Zac asked, the door slamming shut behind him. The twins jumped, whipping around to face him as he strode across the room. 'I told you not to touch that. Get away,'

'Are you obsessed with mermaids?' Tyson asked bluntly. Zac snorted.

'Hardly,'

'Then why do you have so much mermaid-y stuff?'

'And why do you look up mermaids so often on your computer?'

'Why do you ask so many questions?' Zac shot back as the two vacated the chair, 'I'm doing research,'

'What for?'

'A friend,'

'The same friend that gave you that necklace?' Caleb asked, pointing to the one Zac wore almost permanently.

'Maybe,' Zac replied, closing the browser window, 'What are you two doing here, anyway? Mum said you were going down to the beach,'

'There's nothing to _do_ at the beach,'

'Unless you like swimming,'

'Which we don't,'

'Well,' Zac raced through his mind, trying to think of anything to keep the twins occupied, and away from his things, 'What about the skate park? You can hire skateboards,'

'Caleb fell off a skateboard in grade two,'

'Broke my arm,'

'We haven't been skateboarding since,'

'Go fishing off the jetty,' Zac waved a hand, 'Go hang out at the café, go do something outside.'

'Can we go on a boat trip?' the twins asked in unison, their eyes lighting up. Zac frowned at them.

'I thought you didn't like water?'

'We don't like swimming,'

'Water is fine,'

'Well, there's really nowhere to go around here,' Zac shrugged. He wasn't about to tell them about-

'What about Mako Island?'

Zac turned back to them. 'Where'd you hear about that place?'

'Niall talks about it all the time,'

'Says his family lives out that way,'

'Maybe we can visit Niall's family,'

'We see his brothers at school all the time,'

'It'd be cool to meet his older brothers,'

'And his dad,'

'He doesn't have a dad, remember?' Tyson told Caleb

'Sure he does, even if he doesn't call him dad,'

Zac held up a hand to stop the double verbal onslaught. 'Mako is surrounded by a reef. It's nearly impossible to get to the actual island unless you dig up the coral - which is illegal,' he added, before they could start again, 'The only way to get past the reef is swim.'

'We'd swim for that,' Tyson said.

'It'd be so cool!' Caleb grinned.

'We could camp there!'

'Aunty Karen said you go there camping all the time,'

'With your friend, Cam,'

'We could invite Cam,'

'Cam is banned from Mako Island,' Zac told them, 'He got caught... digging coral, and agreed not to go there again instead of get the fine,'

'How big is the fine?'

'A few thousand dollars,' Zac told them shortly, 'We're not going to Mako. Think of something else.'

'We can pilot a boat,' Tyson told Zac.

'We could go on our own,' Caleb added.

'You need to have a marine license to be allowed to pilot one,' Zac smirked, 'And nobody would lend a pair of fourteen-year-olds a boat, anyway,'

'We're thirteen,' Tyson scoffed, 'Get it right,'

'You said you were fourteen,'

_'Nearly_ fourteen,' Caleb rolled his eyes, 'Like, two months,'

'Point still stands,' Zac stood up, 'Nobody around here would lend you two a boat even if you could pay for the hire,'

'Bully,' Caleb said softly as Zac left. They both ran to the windows, making sure he was definitely leaving before running back to the computer.

***~X~***

'...And what's worse, they want me to take them out there, now,'

'Just tell the bluefins and then take your cousins out,' Lyla suggested, 'Keep them away from the bluefins' camp, and away from the entrance to the Moon Pool, and they won't see anything they're not supposed to.'

'I think Zac's right, he shouldn't take them anywhere near the island,' Nixie stated, 'Tell them a monster story, that'll scare them off it,'

'No, that'll make them want to go there even more,' Zac shook his head, 'They're kids, Nixie. You tell them not to do something, and they'll do it.'

'Well, maybe work some reverse psychology on them, then,' Nixie suggested, 'Tell them to go out there, but if they get stranded then they can't go crying to you,'

'Yeah, tell a pair of kids to go out to the source of all our power, real smart,' Sirena shook her head, 'The best thing for it is to just find other things to distract them. What's there to do around here that doesn't involve water?'

Zac raised his eyebrows, looking first at Sirena, then at Lyla. Nixie sighed, getting up and leaving.

Nothing. There was nothing.

***~X~***

Nixie sat down at the table outside the Ocean Café, spotting Zac's troublemaking cousins almost instantly. They were running along the boardwalk, shooting each other with water pistols, and ran down to the beach.

She felt a shadow appear over her, and looked up to see Cam standing in front of her.

'Hey,' he said softly.

'Hey,'

'I got you a drink,' he offered her the can of soft drink, 'I thought maybe... we could hang out?'

'Not gonna try and destroy me?' she asked, half-joking. He shifted uncomfortably before sitting down.

'About that, I'm sorry,' he told her.

'Are you really?' she looked at him carefully, 'Zac said that as soon as you got hands on the trident, you became obsessed with being king of the seas or something,'

'Just Mako Island,' he admitted. 'I-I don't know what happened, really. I guess I got jealous of Zack, having all these powers, and then wanted them all for myself,'

'Jealousy, that's a land-dweller emotion, right?'

Cam and Nixie both laughed softly, Nixie finally accepting the drink.

'So, what prompted this epiphany?'

'I made a new friend,' Cam admitted, 'She told me I should try and keep old friendships instead of ditching them for new ones. Word somehow reached her about me,' he grimaced.

'"She"? Sounds like I have competition,' Nixie sipped the drink, noting that it was her favourite flavour. Cam scoffed.

'Hardly. She's a lot nicer, but nowhere near as pretty. Or sarcastic,'

'Thanks, that makes me feel _great_,' Sirena replied. Cam chuckled.

'You should meet her. I think you guys would get along. Her name's Charli; she just moved here with her sister, Kelly.'

'There seems to be a lot of families moving into the area lately,' Nixie commented, glancing over as Zac's cousins ran back along the boardwalk, looking excited about something. But then, they always looked excited about something.

'It's just a good time of the year to move, I guess,' Cam shrugged, 'I heard there's a bunch of mermen over on Mako Island now, too,'

'Charli tell you that?' she caught Cam's expression and softened, 'I'm kidding. Yeah, there's about eight of them. Four of them are going to our school,'

_'Eight_ mermen?' Cam stared at her, 'No offence, but you guys could hardly stand up to _one_. I'd hate to see what eight of them could do to you,'

'They reckon they're not interested in starting a war,' Nixie explained, 'But I guess we'll just wait and see,'

'If they try to start anything, you know I'm on your side,' Cam told her, putting his hand on top of hers as he gazed at her, 'Despite what's happened in the past. I'm still on your side,'

'Thanks,' Nixie smiled at him, before pulling her hand away, 'I'll remember that. Thanks for the drink,'

Cam watched as she walked away, feeling tight in his chest. He took a deep breath and stood up, starting towards the beach. Almost instinctively, he turned to his right and saw _her_, wild red curls framing her face. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up before disappearing.


	8. 2x2

The beach was mostly empty, with the exception of a few surfers and some parents with their toddlers. The rocky headland, usually a favourite spot for couples wanting some privacy, was deserted, which suited Tyson and Caleb fine.

'But if mermaids did exist, there'd be more information on them, wouldn't there?' Tyson asked his twin.

'It's like dragons,' Caleb argued, 'Their bones are made of different stuff, so when they die, their entire body is destroyed to stop scientists finding it and experimenting on it.'

'That's a stupid idea,'

'It's the most popular belief for the myth,' Caleb told Tyson, 'The reason why nobody's ever found the bodies or bones,'

'Mermaids, Caleb, we're arguing about mermaids,' Tyson reminded him.

'That thing on the computer said they can go invisible,' Caleb reminded him, 'What if they're everywhere, we just can't see them 'cos of their invisible.'

Tyson stopped picking his way across the rocks, thinking about it. 'That's actually smart-ish,' he admitted, 'But it's still crazy. Mermaids - and dragons - are as real as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy,'

'What if they're real as well?'

Tyson groaned. Caleb was smart for their age, but he also believed in stupid little-kid things like Santa and dragons and elves and fairies. It was frustrating for him, because there was no way he could deny that they were related.

'Hey, hey Tyson! Come look at this!'

Tyson picked his way across the rocks to where his brother was fishing something out of a rockpool.

'What is it?' Tyson asked as Caleb pulled it out.

'Looks like a necklace,' Caleb replied, holding it up for both of them to see, 'It's pretty. What's it made of?'

'Dunno,' Tyson held his hand out for a closer look, and Caleb handed it over.

The thread seemed to be woven leather, with a simple loop and button connect. There was a single, large bead on it, a tubular piece of carved stone that looked like lava, which held a polished dark blue stone.

'What sort of stone is that?' Tyson asked, peering at it carefully. Caleb shrugged.

'Maybe we can borrow Zac's computer and Google it,' he held his hand out for it, and Tyson handed it back.

'It could be really valuable,' Tyson remarked. Caleb looked at him, then at the necklace.

'Well, until someone gives me a million bucks for it, I'm gonna wear it,' he said defiantly, tying it behind his neck, 'Come on, lets go and Google stuff about it.'

***~X~***

Sirena reached out, touching the piece of coral gently. Like it usually did, it shrunk in on itself, and she couldn't help but smile at the creature's reaction. Coral was fascinating, sometimes.

She felt a shadow pass over her, and turned to look up, recognising the blue tail almost instantly. She waved, and the merman waved back, smiling at her. He had darker skin and short black hair, that contrasted sharply with his grey eyes. She didn't know his name, but recognised him as one of Tory's podmates.

He gestured to the surface, and she rose up alongside him, both of them breaking at the same time.

'I have not had the pleasure of meeting you properly yet,' he said in a rich, deep voice, 'I am Aquiius,'

'Sirena,' Sirena replied, 'What brings you out to the reef today?'

'I was curious to see the type of sea creatures that we share these waters with,' he replied, smiling, 'I did not expect to encounter you, though,'

'I'm just out looking for shells,' Sirena replied, skirting around his attempt at flirting. 'I make shell bracelets for the Ocean Café,'

'For income?'

Sirena nodded. 'What about you? What do you guys do for money?'

'We sell a small number of these exotic tropical fish,' he gestured at the water around them, meaning the reef and the fish within it, 'The money we receive is enough for clothing; we have more than enough food in these waters. More than we know what to do with,' he laughed.

'Where did you live before here?' Sirena asked curiously.

'Far out in the empty part of the Pacific,' he replied.

'But the waters out there are so deep,' Sirena frowned, 'And there's hardly any fish,'

'It was the only place mermaids would not run us out of,' he replied, 'I understand that some of our kind may not be the most... accepting, of mermaids, but when we tried to explain our differences to them, none dared to listen.'

'That's horrible,' Sirena replied, 'Nixie, Lyla and I were cast out of our pod when Zac was transformed,' she explained, 'Nobody would listen to us then. But we pleaded his case to the Mermaid Council, told them about Cam and everything that happened. They accepted him as part of our pod,' she smiled at Aquiius, 'Maybe, if you can all prove your trust, we can speak on your behalf to the Council,'

'How would we prove our trust?' Aquiius asked, 'There are no dangers in this area any more, and we do not seek out danger,'

'Is that, like, a pod rule?'

'Yes. Tory is a good leader,' Aquiius nodded. Sirena frowned.

'How come Tory is pod leader when there are older mermen in your group?' she asked. Aquiius looked at her carefully.

'We do not abide by the laws and customs of most mer-pods,' he explained, 'Our laws and customs are much like those shared by all merfolk thousands of years ago, before the war. Tory hails from an ancient line older than any of us, and so he is our leader by default.'

'What if he went crazy and started breaking all your laws?'

'Then he would be stripped of his title and forced out of the pod,' Aquiius responded smoothly, 'And the merman with the next oldest line would take charge. Fenn is the next oldest,' he added, as Sirena began to open her mouth.

'Why are the potential leaders all so young?' she asked. She could feel something zipping around in the water around them, and glanced at the waves.

'The elders of their lines were warmongers,' Aquiius replied, 'Fenn's father and grandfather were killed by mermaids, and justly so. Tory's grandfather died when a shipwreck collapsed, and his father... has not been heard from in years,'

'So he's still out there?'

'And still dangerous,' Aquiius nodded, before glancing back at the island, 'I must return to the camp. Stay safe, Sirena. I hope we meet again,' he smiled. Sirena waved as he sunk below the water, before returning to the sea floor.

***~X~***

Zac sighed heavily as he pushed the door open. 'I thought I told you not to touch my stuff,' he exclaimed, spotting the twins at the computer, 'Have you even _gone_ anywhere?'

'Yeah! We went to the boardwalk,'

'And on those rocks around the headland,'

'We found this,' Caleb grinned proudly, showing Zac the necklace, 'We think the blue stone is a sapphire,'

'Sapphires are really expensive stones,' Tyson pointed out

'Let me see,' Zac held his hand out, but the twins exchanged a glance.

'It's mine to keep,' Caleb said. Zac rolled his eyes.

'I just want to look at it,' he replied. The pair exchanged another glance, before Caleb held it up for Zack to see. He turned the stone over in his fingers, recognising the moon rock embedded in it - larger than the Moon Rings, but significantly smaller than the Trident's moon stone. How had they gotten their hands on it?

'Where did you find it?' Zac asked, looking from Caleb to Tyson. Tyson looked at the necklace and gasped, pointing.

'Look! It's glowing!'

Zac looked down and realised it was indeed glowing - in the same way the Moon Rings glowed when the mermaids were using magic. He took a step back, dropping the necklace. He had a sense of foreboding, that the magic couldn't be good.

'Caleb, take it off,' he warned the thirteen-year-old, but he was ignored.

'Maybe it's one of those special stones that we read about,' Caleb told Tyson excitedly.

'Caleb, listen!' Zac barked, 'Take it off, at least for now,'

'No way! You just want it for yourself!'

Zac realised the boy wasn't about to take the necklace off, and stepped forward to grab it, pull it off him. As soon as his hand touched the stone, however, there was a bright flash and he felt himself thrown backwards. He landed on his back, sliding the length of the room and crashing into the bookcase against the far wall.

Caleb was also thrown backwards, hitting the wall and sliding to the ground. Tyson stared at Zac, then turned to Caleb, his eyes widening in shock as he saw his twin, suddenly not looking so twin-like.

'Caleb, your legs!'

Zac scrambled to his feet as he heard Tyson's shout, and stared at his younger cousin. Caleb's eyes were wide and staring at his legs. Or rather, where his legs _used_ to be.


	9. 2x3

'You have a _tail_!' Tyson exclaimed, staring at Caleb's lower half.

Caleb flipped his fluke in response, then grinned at Tyson.

'Told you they were real,'

Zac knelt beside Caleb, staring at the tail. 'We have to hide it, quickly,' he told the twins.

'No way! I want to show _everyone_!' Caleb ran his hands along the scales, 'This is so _cool_!'

'If you show people, you'll get locked up in a tank in a laboratory for the rest of your life,' Zac told him, 'Or put in a display for everyone to see,'

'How do you know?' Tyson asked, 'It's not like you-what are you doing?'

Zac heard his father's voice, getting closer, and held his hand out over the tail, closing it in a fist.

'Caleb, do this,' he demonstrated the hand movement, and Caleb copied him.

'Zac, everything alright in there?' Rob Blakely asked as he pushed the door open. Zac sprung up and ran to the door, blocking his father's view of the room. 'We heard something,'

'Yeah, just a videogame, Dad,' Zac replied. Rob frowned over Zac's shoulder.

'What are you two doing?' he asked. Zac spun around, trying not to sigh with relief as he saw Caleb and Tyson standing side-by-side as usual, looking suspicious.

'Just... hanging around,' Tyson replied.

'What's for dinner?' Caleb asked innocently.

Rob gave the twins an uncertain look, then Zac.

'Keep the video games turned down, from now on,' he told Zac.

'Sure thing, Dad,' Zac closed the door behind his father before turning back to the twins. Caleb was grinning.

'That was _so cool_!' he exclaimed, 'I just like dried off and then I had legs again,'

'Yeah, that's how it works,' Zac replied, 'But as soon as you get even a drop of water on you, you have ten seconds before the tail comes back,'

'_Really_?' Tyson pulled a small water pistol out of his pocket and sprayed Caleb with it, 'No escape for you, fish boy!'

Caleb managed two steps before he transformed again, and fell flat on his back, laughing as Tyson continued to spray him.

'Guys, stop it!' Zac cried, and was answered with Tyson turning and spraying him. He jumped back, but realised he had already been hit.

'Great,' Zac waited for the transformation, as Tyson turned back to spraying Caleb, Caleb responding by using the hand movement Zac had shown him for boiling water.

The water pistol exploded in Tyson's hand. 'Hey!'

'Whoops,' Caleb looked at Zac, 'I only meant to stop it,'

'That's the hand gesture for boiling water,' Zac explained, frowning at his legs. Ten seconds had passed and he was still human. Then it clicked.

His tail, his powers - Caleb now had them all.

This couldn't be good.

***~X~***

'I've never heard of anything like this happening before,' Rita told Zac, 'Maybe you should bring the necklace here, so I can look at it properly.'

'He won't take it off,' Zac replied, 'He thinks if he takes it off, he'll lose his powers,'

'If you have indeed swapped powers with him, then it could be possible,' Rita sighed, 'Keep him at home, stop him from being seen.'

'Him and Tyson are always going everywhere together,' Zac sighed, 'There's no way I can keep him at home,'

Rita pursed her lips. 'I didn't want to suggest it, but I think you should bring him here. All your powers are gone? Even hydrokinesis?'

'All of them,' Zac grimaced.

***~X~***

'Zac!' Cam called out as he approached Zac's shed-house. One of his cousins opened the door, though.

'You're Cam, right?' the boy looked slightly worried about something.

'Yeah,' Cam replied as he stepped into the room, 'Where's Zac?'

'He told us to stay here and then went off somewhere,' the teenager cocked his head, 'I'm Tyson.'

'Where's the other one?' Cam asked, referring to Caleb. Tyson's eyes flicked to Zac's bed before he shook his head.

'I don't know. He ran off.'

'You pair are glued at the hip,' Cam told Tyson, 'He's around here somewhere,'

As he said it, he started walking towards the computer, but his foot snagged on something and he tripped, as someone yelled painfully.

Cam rolled over to see Tyson's twin laying on his stomach on the ground, bare from the waist up. From the waist down, however-

'You're a merman as well?' Cam asked incredulously, 'What is it, attack of the merpeople all of a sudden?'

'You know about mermen?' Caleb asked. Tyson stood back, his arms folded.

'His tail won't go away,' Tyson said, 'We tried drying it, both ways, but it's not working.'

'We need to get him into the water,' Cam said, 'Come on, roll over. Tyson, you get the tail,'

Cam grabbed Caleb under the arms, then grabbed a towel and tossed it over Caleb's tail. 'We can't let anyone see him,' he told Tyson.

'Zac said they would lock me up in a tank,' Caleb said as Cam and Tyson lifted him up.

'They probably would,' Cam replied, 'Which is why you can't let _anyone_ see you like this,'

They managed to navigate their way onto the dock, and Cam pulled the towel away from Caleb's tail, gesturing.

'Go on, jump in,'

'Is it deep enough?'

'Yes, it's deep enough,'

'Cam,'

Cam and Tyson spun around to see Mrs Blakely approaching them, 'Have either of you seen Zac?'

They heard an almighty splash behind them, and Mrs Blakely looked around them. 'What was that?'

'Um, Zac left about twenty minutes ago,' Cam replied, 'I just dropped by to borrow a spare shirt for work,'

'Oh, well let him know I need to speak to him when you do see him,' Mrs Blakely looked around, 'Where's Caleb?'

'Swimming,' Tyson replied, 'At the beach, I think. He said something about surfing,'

'And you didn't go with him?'

Tyson shook his head, 'Zac told me to wait for Cam to show up. He _really_ had to go,' he added. Mrs Blakely nodded, turning and walking back to shore.

'We can't even tell Aunty Karen and Uncle Rob?' Tyson asked as they turned back to the water.

'Nobody,' Cam replied.

'Then how do you know?' Caleb asked, his head popping out of the water.

'I was there when Zac was changed,' he replied, 'But me and Zac, we're the only people you can trust about this. There's a couple others, but they might not want you to know about them,'

'D'you think Niall's a merman as well?' Caleb asked Tyson, who shrugged.

'I'm still trying to get around _this_,' he replied, gesturing to Caleb's tail.

'Niall?' Cam asked, and the twins nodded.

'Niall Bluefin, and his brothers,'

'They started new at school on the first day back,'

'Say they live out near Mako Island,'

'Mako!' Cam exclaimed, 'Of course! I have an idea. Caleb, wait here and _don't be seen_. Tyson, come with me,'

***~X~***

Zac pushed open his door, only to find an empty room. He swore, shutting the door and racing up to the house.

'Where's the twins?' he asked his father, who was scooping something out of the pool.

'Your mother said Caleb was trying out surfing,' he replied, 'Tyson just left with Cam, said they were going out on a boat trip,'

'Cam was here?'

'Yeah,' Rob shrugged, 'I thought you two were friends? I haven't seen him around for ages,'

'Yeah, we had a fight,' Zac replied - that was one way of putting it. 'Did they say where they were going?'

'Out on the reef, I think,'

'Thanks, Dad,'

Zac ran for the public jetty, knowing exactly where Cam was planning on going.


	10. 2x4

Sirena, Lyla and Nixie resurfaced inside the Moon Pool.

'This is disastrous,' Lyla told them, 'We can't have a thirteen-year-old merman running around. Anyone could find out!'

'At least Cam showed some foresight, bringing him here,' Nixie pointed out, 'It could have been way worse. Maybe we can still trust him,'

'We'll see when he shows up,' Lyla replied, 'He might have other plans that we don't know yet.'

Nixie grimaced as Zac broke the surface, still in diving gear.

'No sign yet?' he asked. The girls shook their heads and he sighed. 'I'll go and ask if the bluefins have seen him,' he told them, 'I shouldn't be too long,'

'Look at you, all suited up,' Nixie smirked at him, 'Bet you're missing your tail now, land-boy,'

'Nixie, now's not the time,' Sirena told her. Zac pushed the mouthpiece in between his teeth and sunk below the water again, swimming out through the underwater entrance.

***~X~***

'We haven't seen him,' Tory told Zac, 'But we'll be sure to let you know when we do. Can I ask-?'

'We switched powers when I touched the necklace,' Zac explained quickly, gesturing to the diving gear, 'Now, he's a merman and I'm...'

'Human,' Tory nodded, 'This necklace, can you describe it?'

'Better yet, did it look like this?' Loren asked, holding out a piece of paper. Zac took one look at the picture and nodded.

'That's definitely it,' he told them, then noticed the glance they exchanged, 'Why, is that a bad thing?'

'It's a _very_ bad thing,' Tory replied, 'looking around, furtively before lowering his voice, 'That necklace takes a merperson's powers. If the wearer is not already merfolk, they will be after they take their first victim's powers. After that, it absorbs power from all merfolk within a certain distance.'

'Like the Trident?'

'Worse than the Trident,' Tory looked at his pod, who were engaged in various activities, 'Zac, you are not as badly affected by it because you're a natural-born human. Natural-born merfolk, however... it will drain them until they die,'

Zac stared at Tory, 'What about if we took it to the source of the mermaids' power?'

'It will drain the energy from that, too,' Tory replied sadly, 'And in doing so, drain every merperson connected with it. Keep it away from your source, at all costs,'

***~X~***

'You can't leave me behind!' Tyson cried, 'That's my twin down there,'

'I only have one tank,' Cam replied, 'There's not enough for three of us,'

'Only two of us need it!'

'If this works, three of us will need it on the way back out,' Cam pointed out, 'Tyson, I know you want to come, but-'

He was interrupted as Zac surfaced alongside them, spitting out his mouthpiece. 'Cam! Where's Caleb?'

'He was following us,' Cam replied crouching in the boat as he took in Zac's wetsuit and diving gear, 'So it's true? He took your powers?'

'All of them,' Zac replied, 'We can't let him go into the Moon Pool,'

'Why not?'

'The necklace was a merman weapon,' Zac explained, 'If we take it into the Moon Pool, it'll destroy it and kill all the mermaids connected with it.'

'Just the mermaids?' Cam asked, 'What about you?'

Zac hesitated, 'I don't know. But Tory says once it's started, it doesn't stop, even if it leaves the Moon Pool. And it affects all merfolk, both natural-born and transformed.'

'So we stop him from going into the Moon Pool,' Cam nodded, 'I'll stay here, and stop him when he shows up,'

'I'll wait at the entrance, in case he's already gone there,' Zac replied, 'I'll warn the mermaids, too,'

***~X~***

Caleb slowed down, admiring his tail. He had travelled incredibly fast through the water, and was already at the reef. He kicked his tail lazily, moving towards the surface. Mako Island was nearby, and he could see a boat already anchored close to the shore. There was no way that was Cam - he had left Cam in his wake when they'd left the shore, and he knew he moved faster than a boat.

Caleb flipped and dove towards the reef, exploring the rocky corals. He sensed something zipping around him fast, and thought it might be some sort of fish. Looking up, he realised he was very mistaken.

The first thing that struck him was her red hair, a bright red that matched one of the corals he had just been observing. Her tail was a bright purple colour, with side fins, and the lower half of it looked like it was covered in exotic weeds, partially hiding her red flukes.

She hovered in the water in front of him, bright green eyes searching him carefully. They widened when they spotted the necklace, and she pointed at it. Caleb looked down, then back at her. She mimed taking it off, but he shook his head. If she wanted it for herself, she would have to fight him for it.

She opened her mouth, emitting a loud shriek that seemed to shake the water around her. Caleb flew backwards, hitting the sandy floor with a soft thump, and looked up in time to see her turn away from him, flipping her tail once before disappearing in a trail of bubbles.

Caleb floated up, looking around. There was no sign of her.

***~X~***

Sirena, Lyla and Nixie whirled around as an unfamiliar mermaid appeared, breaking the surface.

'What were you _thinking_, letting the mermen stay?' she demanded. Lyla recognised her almost instantly as the reef mermaid they had rescued a few days ago.

'Who are you?'

'That doesn't matter,' the reef mermaid replied, 'I just saw one of them on the reef, with one of their greatest weapons. It looked like he was heading here,'

'We made peace with the pod,' Sirena stated, 'They wouldn't attack us. They don't even know where the entrance is,'

'The one I saw looked very young,' the mermaid replied, looking at each of the girls in turn, 'He was wearing a necklace, with a moon stone in it - I could feel it draining me even before I saw him,'

'Wait, _draining_ you?' Nixie asked. The reef mermaid looked at her.

'Yes, do you not know the story about Neptune's Necklace?' she asked incredulously. Nixie, Sirena and Lyla exchanged glances, before shaking their heads. The mermaid sighed heavily.

'There were two great merman weapons in the ancient war,' she explained, 'The Trident, which has been destroyed-'

'How do you know that?'

'I felt it, just like those mermen felt your friend using it,' she replied brusquely, 'The other weapon was the necklace. It was designed, like the Trident, to feed off the mermaids' power, but only when it was being worn. Back then, it turned mermaids into land-people when it removed all their powers, and that's why mermen are so much stronger than us,'

'"Back then"?'

'_Now_, because it was locked away for years,' the mermaid looked at the girls, 'It won't just turn you to a land person. It will keep draining your energy until you're dead,'

The girls looked at each other. 'Cam is bringing it here,' Lyla said, 'We can destroy it then,'

'It cannot be destroyed,' the reef mermaid told them, 'The only way to stop it draining power is for a mermaid to agree to wear it - it will permanently render her a land-person, but it will keep mermaids everywhere safe,'

'How did it get here?' Nixie asked. The reef mermaid looked at her, before dropping her eyes.

'That doesn't matter. If you bring it here, it will drain the Moon Pool, and all the mermaids associated with it - including your old pod,' she turned back to Lyla, 'You have to stop it from getting in here.'

'You're not going to help us?' Sirena asked, 'Doesn't it affect you, too?'

The reef mermaid looked at her. 'Stop the necklace coming here,' she replied, 'And get it off him. I'll take care of it from there,'

Before they could say anything, she had turned and dived away, through the opening.


	11. 2x5

Cam and Tyson whipped around as they heard someone surface.

'What are you doing here, Cam?' Nixie demanded. Tyson scrambled to the side of the boat, peering over and seeing her green tail.

'You're a mermaid as well?' he asked her, '_Cool_!'

'I didn't know the necklace was so dangerous,' Cam told Nixie apologetically, 'Caleb will be here soon, you should go, or it'll affect you too,'

'You should have come looking for us straight away!' Nixie replied.

'His tail wasn't going away,' Cam replied, gesturing to Tyson, 'They tried drying it and everything, but it wasn't working. We got him into the water and I told him to meet me out here. I thought the Moon Pool could fix it,'

'The Moon Pool can't fix anything if it's destroyed,' Nixie replied, clutching the side of the boat, 'It's a merman weapon, the necklace - it drains mermaid power and passes it to mermen,'

'Unless it's Zac,'

'Unless it's Zac,' Nixie agreed, 'Because the source of his powers is the same as ours - if it's destroyed, all of us will be as well,'

Cam nodded, 'We're waiting for Caleb up here. Zac said he would look after the entrance,'

'Let _us_ guard the entrance,' Nixie sighed, 'Zac needs to get out there and find him. Before someone else does.'

'Nixie-!' Cam lunged forward to stop her going, but she had already dived back underwater.

'So there's other mermaids around?' Tyson asked, looking at Cam, 'How many merpeople are there around here?'

***~X~***

'I can't find him anywhere,' Zac told Lyla, and looked around, 'Where's Nixie and Sirena?'

'Out looking for him,' Lyla replied. Zac's eyes widened.

'If they get too close, it'll drain them!' he cried, diving back under the water.

He saw a blue tail as soon as he emerged, swimming among the reef, and recognised Caleb almost instantly. Caleb didn't see him, and turned, heading towards the southern end of the island. Zac felt something catch in one of the tubes and gagged, looking at the air pressure gauge.

He was almost out of air.

Worrying, Zac turned towards Cam's boat and started swimming.

'I have a spare one,' Cam offered as he helped Zac into the boat. Zac shook his head.

'I'll just go without one,' he said, 'I saw him swimming towards the southern end, we could pilot the boat that way, try and catch him out,'

'Zac, straight up,' Tyson sat on the bench opposite Zac as he began stripping off the wetsuit, 'How many merpeople are around this area?'

'Fourteen, that we know of,' he replied. Cam rolled his eyes.

'I was trying to _not_ tell him,' he said. Zac shrugged.

'You know you can't tell anyone, right?' Zac asked Tyson, who nodded.

'There's no such thing as mermaids,' he scoffed, 'Was that good enough?'

'That's the best line you could ever use,' Zac told him, peeling off the lower half of the wetsuit to reveal boardshorts. Cam pulled the boat to a stop.

'I just saw a flash of blue,' he said, pointing, 'Over there,'

A head popped up out of the water beside the boat and Caleb grinned at them.

'Took your time,'

'Caleb,' Zac clambered over the benches to lean over the front, 'That necklace is dangerous; you have to take it off,'

'This?' Caleb tugged at the necklace, 'What's it do?'

'I'll tell you once you take it off,' Zac promised, 'You're hurting people by wearing it, though,'

'It's just a necklace,' Caleb reasoned, 'How can it hurt anyone?'

'That stone in it is magic,' Cam told him, 'It's stealing energy from the other merfolk around here. If you don't take it off, somebody's going to die,'

Caleb scoffed. 'Yeah, right. If I take it off, I'll lose my tail and powers. Nice try,'

'Caleb, there's really other merpeople around here,' Tyson said, scrambling to Zac's side, 'We'll find a way for you to be a merman without it, promise. But you gotta take it off first,'

'Now I get it,' Caleb glared at them, moving away from the boat, 'You don't want to steal my powers - you want to give them to _him_!' he pointed at Tyson, shaking his head, 'Nice try, but I'm not falling for it,'

He flipped over, diving under the water, and Zac stood up.

'What are you doing?' Cam asked. Zac answered him by diving over the side of the boat, disappearing after Caleb.

***~X~***

Caleb sped through the water, angry at everyone. Tyson was always the stronger one of them, the smarter of them, the more _special_ of them. He was just Caleb. And now he had something that made _him_ better than Tyson, and everyone was trying to take it away.

He dove in amongst the coral, hiding himself in a narrow cave. They wouldn't find him in here.

Hesitantly, he fumbled with the necklace, pulling it off from around his neck. He held his breath for a moment, waiting for his body to change back, but nothing happened. He breathed a sigh of relief, before examining the stone. It was glowing a light blue, like when it had zapped him and Zac, and Caleb peered out of the cave to see Zac swim past, fully human. Seconds later, a girl followed him. flipping her green tail. Caleb shrunk back into the cave, looking down at the stone.

A shadow covered the entrance to the cave, and Caleb looked up to see Zac there, hand held out. He shook his head, pressing himself further back against the wall. He felt one of the sharp rocks cut into his tail and winced painfully, taking the chance to look down.

Zac used the distraction to his advantage, grabbing Caleb's hand that was closed around the necklace and trying to prise his fingers open. Caleb fought back, scratching Zac's arm like a girl, but he didn't let go.

There was a brilliant flash of light, and Zac was thrown backwards through the water. He fell against a bed of coral, eyes closed. Caleb stared at him, eyes wide as he saw the lower half of Zac's body had transformed - he had a _tail_, exactly like Caleb's!

He also wasn't moving.

'Zac!'

Caleb dived out of the cave, forgetting about the necklace completely. It fell to the sandy floor of the cave, settling, as Caleb raced to Zac's side. He saw two more blue tails nearby, two more mermen appearing. They helped lift Zac to the surface.

'To the beach with him,' one of the two ordered. Caleb vaguely recognised him from school, as one of Niall's "brothers".

Caleb followed them as they pulled Zac up onto the beach, drying off their tails - which turned back into legs. One of them held a towel out to Caleb.

'Dry yourself off, you'll have legs in no time,' he said. He had darker skin than the rest of them, and looked like the oldest.

'It wasn't working earlier,' Caleb told him, but the man, grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the waves.

'It wasn't working because you were wearing the necklace,' Aquiius told the boy, try it now,'

Caleb rubbed the towel over the tail, noticing a boat pulling up a little further up the beach.

'What happened?' Cam asked. Caleb felt his legs, and stood up slowly.

'He tried to grab it off me,' he explained, 'And there was a flash and then... I don't know,'

Tyson was staring at Zac as another merman - he also had legs for the time being - knelt over him, holding his palm flat above Zac's middle. Caleb heard footsteps and looked up to see three of Zac's school friends running their way. He recognised one of them as the mermaid that had been following Zac.

Zac's skin - the human skin - began to glow a faint light blue, before the glow was pulled up and into the merman's palm, which he closed tight.

'Is he gonna be okay?' Tyson asked, staring at Zac, who still wasn't moving.

'He'll be right,' the merman healer replied as Zac spluttered, rolling onto his side and coughing up water.

'Zac!'

Caleb threw himself at Zac, hugging him, 'I'm sorry!'

'He's all right, back to normal,' Loren reassured Caleb, 'No harm done,'

'What happened to the necklace?' Zac asked, struggling to sit up before realising he had a tail again, 'What happened?'

'I zapped you, I think,' Caleb told him, 'I'm sorry,'

'The necklace has safeguards to prevent it being forcibly taken from it's bearer,' Loren explained, 'Incredibly strong, but most of them are based in the magic it absorbs from the first victim - which was you. That magic turned against you, wounding you but at the same time restoring your powers,'

'Welcome back, brother,' Tory grinned.

'Where's the necklace?' Zac asked, looking at Caleb.

'I lost it,' Caleb replied, 'I had it when you... and then I didn't have it when we got here,'

'And lost is how it's gonna stay,' Lyla stated, Tory nodding in agreement. 'If anyone finds it-'

'Bury it deep,' Tory told them, 'Nobody is to go looking for it. It is a weapon of war, and war is the last thing we want here,'

Zac stood up, having dried himself off. 'What about Caleb? Does he still have his powers?'

'Most likely,' Aquiius replied, 'And he will retain his powers, just like you, Zac,'

'Told you we'd help you stay special,' Tyson grinned, nudging Caleb.


	12. 2x6

As they'd expected, the reef mermaid was waiting, sitting on the rock ledge with her fluke in the water when they returned to the Moon Pool.

'Well?' she asked.

'Zac's powers were restored, Caleb gets to keep his tail, and the necklace is lost,' Sirena told her. The mermaid raised an eyebrow.

'I thought I said I'll take care of it?'

'The mermen have agreed not to go digging it up,' Lyla replied, 'They were all there, they all agreed it was best to leave it wherever it was dropped.'

The reef mermaid sighed, 'You're all definitely greentails, no mistaking that,'

'What did you just call us?' Nixie asked indignantly. The reef mermaid levelled her gaze at Nixie.

'You heard me, greentail,'

'I'd rather be a greentail than a finned freak!'

'"Greentail" isn't an insult, it's your racial designation,' the reef mermaid replied, 'Didn't you guys learn _anything_ in school? Like the land people have Caucasians, Asians, indigenous people - we have Reefers - like me - Greentails, Bluefins, and Furbacks, way up in the arctic waters,'

'My name is Nixie,' Nixie told her, 'We still don't know yours,'

'Call me Reef, if you have to call me anything,' "Reef" replied, 'As I said, the bluefins can't be trusted - not all of them, anyway. Some of them are easily led astray, others are outright dangerous,'

'There's eight of them,' Lyla pointed out.

'And four - maybe five, now - in your group,' Reef reminded them, 'Watch that young one, too - he's naïve, could be fooled into traps effortlessly, or tricked into joining the wrong side.'

'You talk like it's going to come to a fight,' Sirena said carefully, 'They were chased out of everywhere else, all they want is peace,'

'That's what their leader, and their elders want,' Reef told them, 'Some of them are not as passive. Remember that.'

The girls could see she was preparing to dive into the water, 'Wait, Reef,'

Reef looked at Lyla. 'Yes?'

'Do you have a human form?' she asked.

'We need to know,' Nixie added. Reef blinked, then smiled.

'Where's the fun in that?' she asked, before launching herself off the rock edge and diving under the water with a small splash.

'D'you think she's right about the mermen?' Sirena asked. Nixie and Lyla swapped a look.

'If she is, we'd best tread carefully,' Lyla said.

'And be wary about trusting them - even if they _did_ save Zac's life,' Nixie added, 'I don't like that Fenn guy much, and Niall could so easily be tricked, like she said,'

'Tory, Loren, and Aquiius - we can trust them,' Lyla stated, 'The others, we're careful about,'

'Agreed,' the other two said in unison.

***~X~***

'So I can't get wet, from _any_ liquid?' Caleb asked.

'Nope, or you'll fishtail,' Zac replied, 'I'll show you some basic hand moves to keep your magic under control, too,' he added.

'I get magic?' Caleb grinned, looking around at Tyson, who was playing a racing game, 'Hey Ty, I get magic!'

'Cool,' Tyson replied unenthusiastically, not looking away from his game. Zac could already sense a gap between the two brothers, and realised that they had barely shared sentences since returning from Mako.

'Go on, Mum'll probably want you guys in bed, ready for school tomorrow,' he told the pair. His mother had told him shortly after their return that the spare room was ready for the boys to move into, and they'd already moved all their stuff there.

Caleb jumped off the couch and raced outside, sprinting across the lawn. Tyson ended the game and put the controller back.

'What's up?' Zac asked him. Tyson looked at him, 'You've hardly said a word since we got back,'

Tyson shrugged. 'Just tired,'

'If it's about Caleb-'

'I'm just tired, Cuz,' he shrugged, 'It's nothing. I'll be better in the morning,'

Zac watched as Tyson trudged outside, looking dejected. He had a feeling he knew what it was, but he decided he would let Tyson talk about it when he wanted to, rather than push it.

***~X~***

Rays of moonlight filtered through the water, catching his blue tail and turning it silvery. Nothing really glittered down here, so he knew it would be easy to find it. This was the right spot; he could feel the energy around it, supercharged. Their "fearless" leader had lost most of his instincts, probably around the same time he began preaching pacifism. Most of the others had lost it, too, in their quest for eternal peace. He was the only one left with any sense, any _real_ bravery.

He paused, peering inside a narrow fissure in a large rock. It was just large enough for a small boy to fit in, or a small Bluefin.

Sure enough, it lay on the sandy floor, glittering at him in the moonlight. The stone had turned dark, but that wasn't a worry for him.

Reaching into the fissure, he caught the tie of the necklace, and pulled it out. Blue eyes peered at it carefully, and a dark smile curled the corners of his lips.

Perfect.


	13. 3x1

_If you've stuck with me thus far, I'm going to assume my writing isn't totally crap and that it's safe to continue. Cheers :)_

**-Bullets**

* * *

Nixie wrinkled her nose at the sandwich held in her hands.

'I'm really supposed to eat this?' she asked Evie, who nodded.

'If people saw you eating raw prawns at school, they'd think you're a freak,' she replied.

'With the bread around it as well?'

'All of it,'

Nixie screwed up her nose and bit into the sandwich. Naturally, she'd put prawns in between the two slices of bread, but the bread was what made it unappetising.

'There you go, that's not so bad, is it?' Evie asked. Nixie gave her a dangerous glare, 'Okay... but at least nobody will call you anorexic any more.'

Lyla and Sirena had managed to - somehow - eat land people food, so they could fit in better at school, but Nixie had held off for the first three weeks of term.

'This stuff is disgusting,' she said, scowling at the bread, 'Can't I just eat the middle out of it?'

'Not if you don't want people staring at you weirdly,' Evie replied.

'Hey, Evie. Nixie, right?'

Nixie looked up as the girl sat down beside Evie, holding out a hand, 'I'm Charli,'

'Charli's new here as well,' Evie explained.

'Prawn sandwich?' Charli asked, screwing her nose up at Nixie's lunch.

'At least I'm eating,' Nixie retorted. She stopped as Charli pulled a large packet of chips out of her bag and popped it open.

'Want some?' she asked the two girls, offering the bag. Nixie shook her head, as did Evie. Charli shrugged, 'More for me, then,'

'Charli moved here from Whitsunday Island,' Evie told Nixie, who watched Charli carefully. There was a certain smell about her, different to other land people, but it was only faint.

'What's Whitsunday Island?' Nixie asked.

'It's on the Great Barrier Reef,' Charli replied, 'Worst place, 'cos I'm hydrophobic,'

'Really?' Nixie asked. She had learned that hydrophobia was a fear of water.

'Yeah, borderline obsessive-compulsive, isn't it?' Evie asked Charli, who nodded.

'Can't even get a drop on me without freaking out,' Charli replied, 'What about you, Nixie? I hear you ditched swimming class as well,'

'I just don't like swimming,' Nixie replied, 'Evie, can I have a word?'

She abandoned the sandwich, and Evie followed her to a quiet part of the courtyard.

'Why are you introducing me to her?' Nixie asked.

'Zac thinks she might be this mystery "Reef" mermaid,' Evie replied, 'Look at it, the hydrophobia, she used to live on a reef, and nobody's ever seen or heard from this "sister" she lives with. Nobody even knows where she lives,'

'Only one way to find out,' Nixie told Evie, making an innocent hand gesture. The water fountain near Charli sprayed water suddenly, and Charli moved like lightning, diving away from it. Evie stared at Nixie, who shrugged, before running to Charli's side.

Charli had been sprayed down her front, and was frantically wiping droplets of water off her skin.

'Oh god, I need to change these clothes!' she cried, hands shaking. Evie helped her stand up, offering her jumper as a towel, and dried Charli off.

Nixie had counted to ten three times when she heard a throat clear behind her. She turned slowly to see Rita, arms folded and glaring at her.

'My office, Nixie,'

***~X~***

'Did you get in much trouble?' Tory asked over their latest chemistry experiment.

'What do you mean?' Nixie asked innocently.

'I saw you with the water fountain, earlier,' he replied, measuring out a specific amount of powder, 'Did you get in much trouble for it?'

'Detention each lunch break,' she replied, 'Today and tomorrow,'

Tory tutted. 'Bad girl, Nixie,'

'Shut up,'

'Can I ask why you sprayed that particular girl?' he looked at her over the top of their Bunsen burner.

'Evie thought she might be a mermaid,' Nixie replied. Tory snorted.

'You mean the reef mermaid you've all been looking for?'

'Why not? She started school around the same time "Reef" showed up. She used to _live_ on a reef. And Reef's eyes are this really vivid green - the same as Charli's,'

'Charli moved here with her sister, did you ever think the sister could be "Reef"?' Tory suggested, 'Either way, you'll never be able to find out unless you ask her. Reef mermaids are a lot better at hiding their tails; you'll only find out if they want you to find out,'

'Thanks for that,' Nixie said sarcastically, as their solution began bubbling over, 'Your turn to clean it up,'

***~X~***

Zac waved at Caleb under the surface of the pool, and the younger boy rose up to the surface.

'How long can we hold our breath for?' Caleb asked. Zac shrugged.

'Rita said they can do twelve hours, maybe a bit more or a bit less. I don't know about us, but I'd bet it'd be around the same.'

'That is _so cool_!' Caleb grinned, then looked around, 'I haven't seen Tyson all day,'

'Yeah, me either,' Zac looked around, 'Maybe he's made other friends,'

'Really?' Caleb frowned, 'He hardly talks to me anymore,'

'Maybe he feels left out,' Zac offered, 'You guys used to be such great friends, and now because of this,' he gestured to the tail, 'And the fact that I've got one, he feels left out, because he doesn't,'

Caleb looked at the ground thoughtfully for a minute. 'How did you get your powers?'

'I was in the right place at the wrong time,' Zac replied, 'It was an accident, really,'

'Cam had powers once, too, didn't he?'

Zac nodded. 'But he lost them forever when he turned against us. He tried to destroy the Moon Pool and force Sirena, Nixie and Lyla off Mako.'

'But you stopped him,' Caleb nodded, 'Is that why you guys aren't really friends any more?'

'Sort of,' Zac shrugged, 'He hasn't told anyone about me or the girls, or you. And he tried to help, even if he didn't know he was doing the wrong thing at the time, with that necklace. But even after we got back after that, he didn't look at me, like he was still ashamed,'

'Maybe he doesn't know _how_ to say sorry,' Caleb suggested, 'Because what he did was so wrong, and he knows that but doesn't know how to make it up to you.'

Zac looked at his young cousin. It was ironic that the younger kids always made the most sense.


	14. 3x2

Tyson sat in the pier, his feet dangling in the water. They were still feet, even when they got wet. He wasn't like Caleb, as much as he wished he was. He knew Caleb thought that he, Tyson, was smarter and braver, but Tyson thought the same about his twin.

He'd even known merpeople existed, without needing to see them to know it was real.

Niall spent all his time with Caleb, now, as well. He liked both of them, but Caleb could swim with him and go diving and swim out to Mako. And they never invited Tyson. It was like they'd forgotten about him.

'Hey, squirt,' Cam sat down beside Tyson, dressed in his life guard uniform, 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing,' Tyson sighed. He kept telling everyone it was nothing, even though they didn't exactly believe him all the time.

'I know you're lying,' Cam smiled at him, watching as he flicked his feet in the water, 'It's Caleb, isn't it?'

Tyson rolled his eyes, 'You wouldn't get it,' he sighed, moving to stand up. Cam reached out and put a hand on Tyson's shoulder.

'What makes you say that?' he asked, 'My best friend's a merman as well. I think I know better than anybody what you'd be going through,'

Tyson hesitated, looking up at Cam. 'When Zac changed, did he start ditching you to hang out with new friends as well?'

'Not exactly,' Cam replied, 'When Zac changed, we had a trio of mermaids stalking us, trying to change him back. But when he started being friends with them, that's when he started ditching me,'

'Is that why you guys aren't friends anymore?'

'No,' Cam sighed, looking out at the water, 'No, that was because I screwed up. I did some pretty bad things, and him and the girls decided they couldn't trust me anymore.'

'Did you make new friends?'

'I made one,' he admitted, 'Then I started trying to be friends with Zac and Nixie again.'

'Do you like Nixie?'

Cam chuckled, messing up the kid's hair, 'She's just a friend for now. Come on, want to get a drink?'

Sirena moved backwards as Cam led Tyson off the jetty, watching them head up to the Ocean Café, unseen by them and everyone else around.

***~X~***

Sirena looked at Lyla uncertainly.

'Do you think this will work?' she asked. Lyla shrugged.

'Tory and Nixie do it all the time,' she told Sirena, 'There's no reason it won't work for us. Slowly, though.'

Lyla slowly closed her fist under the table, making the water boil. Sirena added the powder, and the water turned blue.

'It's working!'

'Easy,' Sirena warned, adding a vial of liquid. The mixture turned a darker blue and continued to bubble.

'What are you two doing?'

Lyla and Sirena spun around to face Rita, who was watching them from the kitchen doorway.

'Nothing,' Sirena replied.

'Chemistry homework,' Lyla added. Rita frowned at them.

'It's supposed to go red first, then purple,' she told them, 'Try not to make a mess. And stop boiling it now or you'll-'

She was cut off by the sound of exploding glass, the liquid splashing the two girls, who exchanged looks right before they transformed.

Rita uncovered her eyes to see the two girls laying on the kitchen floor. 'Don't boil it so much next time,' she told them as the doorbell rang. 'Dry off, quickly,'

Rita moved to answer the door, and found David standing there with a large Styrofoam box.

'Seafood delivery,' he told Rita, who looked at him in surprise.

'It's not due until tomorrow,' she noted.

'I know, but we're going out for a fishing trip tomorrow,' David replied, 'So I thought, better get everything delivered today,'

'Oh, well, the kitchen,' she raised her voice to warn the girls, 'Is right this way, David,'

David gave her an odd look before following her up the stairs and into the kitchen, where the two girls were cleaning up the puddle of dark blue liquid on the counter.

'David,' Sirena beamed at him, 'Hi,'

'You're early,' Lyla remarked.

'David is going out fishing tomorrow,' Rita told them 'What area were you fishing in?'

'We're trying a new spot,' David grinned, 'Out past the reef, past that big island,'

'Mako?'

'That's the one,' he grinned, as he started to unpack the carton, 'Apparently, there's a lot of snapper out that way, and Joe says he's been seeing a lot of large fish out there on the fishfinder, too,'

'Are you sure they're not dolphins?' Rita asked, 'They usually travel this way this time of year,'

'Nah, not the right shape, he says,' David grinned at Sirena, 'But he's offered to take us out when he does hear about dolphins coming through, so we can see them,'

'We're really busy at the moment,' Lyla said apologetically, 'What with schoolwork and all,'

'We'll see, closer to the time,' Rita told him carefully, 'Thank you for the delivery, David,'

David grinned at Sirena, 'Bye,'

Rita waited until the front door had closed before turning back to the girls. 'Somebody needs to let the mermen know,' she told them. Lyla glanced at Sirena, who grabbed the broken beaker and began tidying up the chemistry equipment. She sighed heavily, rolling her eyes.

'Fine,'

***~X~***

She was close to Mako when she became aware of two figures swimming on either side, matching her speed perfectly. After looking, she realised they were two of the mermen - Tigris and Aaron, she guessed.

'What brings you to our side of the island?' Tigris asked as he followed her up the beach, 'Especially alone?'

'There's going to be a fishing trawler come out past the island tomorrow,' Lyla explained, following Aaron into the trees. She was surprised to see the Bluefin campsite was beginning to look more permanent, with several trees cleared to make space for more tents and a large fire in the middle, 'You guys are setting up,'

'It was necessary,' Aaron replied, 'A storm came through two nights ago and destroyed much of our original camp. Tory moved us into the trees, where our belongings are more protected from storm weather.'

'We usually take refuge in our grotto,' Lyla replied, 'There's a small cave at the southernmost tip of the island; it would make for a good storm shelter,'

'Thank you for the advice,' Tigris replied, 'And thank you for the warning of the trawler. There has been a boat that has taken to following us in recent days. We appreciate the warnings,'

'People probably assume you're dolphins or sharks,' Lyla explained, 'Either way, try to avoid boats when you see them. They're never good news.'

'Thank you, Lyla, but we have plenty of experience in avoiding human boats,' Aaron smiled, 'Your friends, Sirena and Zac, they sometimes join us swimming. We would enjoy swimming with you and your friend, Nixie. There is a group of whales further out that we plan to join with tomorrow, if you'd like to join us,'

Lyla felt herself smile slightly. 'That... should be fun. I'll see what I'm doing,'

Aaron beamed at her.


	15. 3x3

_Trusting you guys to tell me when this gets boring or clichéd or whatever. I'm seeing the traffic stats go up but nobody's really giving me feedback, so I'm shooting in the dark here... Let me know if/why you don't like it, if that's the case - negative reviews give me something to build off as well :)_

**-Bullets**

* * *

Tyson looked up as Zac shut the door behind him. 'Hey, mate,' he said, spotting Tyson instantly, 'What are you doing in here?'

'Caleb's taken over our room,' he replied, 'He's practicing his magic stuff. I didn't want to get caught in crossfire,'

'So you came here,' Zac slumped on the couch beside him, 'I've hardly seen you this last week, not even at school. Where've you been?'

'Hanging out with Cam,' Tyson replied, 'We're going out with David and his brother Joe, tomorrow.'

'Fishing?' Zac asked. That was the only reason Joe went out on the boat, unless it was dolphin season - which was soon, he reminded himself.

'Yeah,' Tyson nodded, 'I think I'm sort of getting into this whole living seaside thing. It's really not so bad when you get used to it,'

'Wait until you try going diving,' Zac grinned, 'There's so many reefs around the island, you'll love it,'

'Maybe,' Tyson hesitated, 'Cam could come as well, then I won't be the only human there,'

'I guess,' Zac said slowly, 'You've been hanging out with him a lot?'

'Yeah, we practically live in each others' pocket, as Mum would say,'

Zac felt a little uneasy about that, and it must have shown on his face, because Tyson sighed.

'He's really sorry for whatever he did,' he told Zac, 'He won't even tell me, just says it was a really, _really_ bad thing that would have hurt a lot of people, and he didn't realise that until after you all went off into the ocean, when it was too late to say anything,'

Zac looked at the floor. 'He should be the one saying this, though,' he pointed out, 'Not you,'

'He's not brave enough to say it,' Tyson explained, 'Doesn't know the right words. He said he wants things to be okay between you and him,'

'Then he should come and talk to me, instead of avoiding me,' Zac shrugged, 'If you're gonna play messenger, tell him that.'

'You should tell him that yourself. Maybe then he would talk to you,'

Zac sighed heavily. 'So you're going out on Joe's boat tomorrow?' Tyson nodded. 'Make sure he doesn't try following any dolphins or sharks he sees on his fish finder, would you?'

'I'll try,' Tyson grinned, 'Does the fish finder see merpeople as well?'

'Yeah,' Zac grimaced, 'He almost caught Nixie with it once,'

'Close call for her,'

'Too close,' Zac messed up his cousin's hair, 'So make sure he doesn't get that close again,'

'Zac,' Tyson hesitated, 'Is there any way to change people back from being a merman?'

'We don't know,' Zac replied, 'We thought it was as simple as me being in the Moon Pool at the full moon, but... it hasn't changed anything so far,'

'What about Caleb? 'Cos he got changed different to you,'

Zac thought carefully, 'He used the necklace to get his powers,' he said slowly, 'So if someone could learn to control it, maybe they could use the necklace to remove them,'

'But the necklace is supposed to be bad,'

'And it's been lost, too,' Zac added, 'Nobody knows where it is now. And nobody's allowed to go looking for it, either,'

Tyson looked thoughtful, and remained silent.

***~X~***

'You want to find the necklace?' Cam asked incredulously. Tyson gestured for him to be quiet, looking over his shoulder at Sirena, standing beside David on the upper deck.

'I want Caleb back,' he replied, 'The old Caleb. My brother,'

Cam shook his head, 'That necklace is dangerous. Just leave it where it is. Has Caleb said anything about wanting to change back?'

Tyson looked at the ground, pursing his lips.

'I'll take that as a no, then,'

'What are you two whispering about?' Sirena asked brightly, smiling as she approached them.

'Nothing!' Cam and Tyson replied simultaneously, turning to her. She looked from one to the other carefully.

'O-kay,'

'Hey guys, come see this!'

Joe was pointing to something on the instrument panel, and Cam and Tyson exchanged a glance before following Sirena up.

'Dolphins,' David grinned, pointing to two large shapes moving through the water, deep beneath them.

'They're very big dolphins,' Joe remarked, 'I've never heard of dolphins getting that big,'

'Sharks, then,' Cam stated, 'Probably best if we just leave them alone. If they're dolphins, we don't want to scare them off,'

'If they're sharks, we don't want to find out,' Sirena added, 'Maybe we should find another place to go fishing,'

'Shark makes great fishing,' Joe replied, climbing out of his seat, 'We'll drop line here,'

Sirena, Cam and Tyson exchanged glances. 'What if they're dolphins, though? It's illegal to fish for dolphins,' Tyson pointed out.

'There's plenty of other fish in the area,' David pointed out, 'The chances of actually catching the dolphins - or sharks - is slim to none,'

'I'm gonna drop a net,' David called to the others, 'David, Cam, I need you guys to help me pull it back up. Ty-' he handed a fishing rod to Tyson, 'You can fish off the front end, if you want. Give us a yell when you get something,'

'I'll go with him,' Sirena volunteered, 'Make sure he doesn't fall off,'

Tyson climbed to the bow and leaned over, clutching at the edge.

'Who do you think is down there?' he asked as Sirena joined him. She shrugged.

'It could be anyone,'

***~X~***

Caleb looked up at the shadow far overhead, then at Niall, who was grinning. He gestured upwards, silently asking if Caleb wanted to surface, but he shook his head, eyes wide. Zac had already warned him not to swim around boats, and he didn't want to risk getting caught.

Niall gestured for him to follow, then took off, speeding away from the boat and then up towards the surface. Caleb followed, hoping they would be out of range of any fish finders.

'It's only a little fishing boat,' Niall told him, 'They don't usually have nets, and its not like we can get caught on a hook,'

'But what if they decide to dive?' Caleb asked; Niall laughed.

'They don't have diver flags, so they wouldn't. Besides, they've been there long enough to have already done it, if they were gonna dive. C'mon, let's see how close we can get,'

'Niall-'

Niall had already disappeared underwater, speeding back towards the boat. Caleb grimaced, looking around, before diving back under to chase his friend.

***~X~***

Lyla hadn't stopped smiling as she sped through the water with Aaron and Tigris. She hadn't swum with whales for a long time - she'd intended to take Zac but with everything that had happened, with Cam and the trident, she just hadn't gotten around to asking him.

Aaron grinned at her, racing ahead, and she recognised the challenge. Grinning, she sped up, accepting the race challenge without a word.

***~X~***

'Whoa, check that out!' Joe cried, pointing to the fish finder as three shapes sped by underneath them, 'There must be a whole pod of dolphins in the area,'

'Yeah, we should just leave them alone,' Cam commented, We could come back out and visit them another day,'

'There's two of them swimming right under us,' Joe stated, still watching the display, 'We could try and catch them!'

'I don't think so,' David told his brother, 'It's illegal,'

'Who's gonna tell?' Joe shrugged, 'I'm not gonna keep it; I just wanna see what it is,'

Sirena and Tyson heard their conversation, and swapped uneasy looks.


	16. 3x4

Zac and Evie thanked Carly as she set the order in front of them.

'You should try becoming a mermaid,' he told Evie, 'You'd love it,'

'I wouldn't be so sure of that,' Evie replied, 'It seemed to be nothing but trouble for you at the beginning,'

'That was because I didn't know anything about it,' Zac replied, 'And I didn't know who to talk to about it. But you've got me, and Sirena and Nixie and Lyla,'

'I'm not so sure I'd suit being a mermaid,' Evie told him, 'I have enough trouble keeping up with _this_ world, let alone the ocean world as well.'

Zac had been hinting at Evie becoming a mermaid for a few days, and Evie wished he would just drop it. She didn't feel like she could keep up with all her schoolwork, as well as study being a mermaid, like Zac and the girls did - and run the shop at the same time. It seemed like too much trouble all at once. She figured it was because he wanted to share his world with her, but she was happy just to know he was happy with it.

Besides, she liked being able to get sprayed with water and not have to run away and hide before her legs turned into a tail.

A shadow fell across them and they both looked up to see Fenn standing over them.

'Hey, Zac, can I talk to you?' he asked. Zac looked at Evie, who shrugged, before standing up and following Fenn.

'What's up?' Zac asked. Fenn looked around uncertainly.

'This... boyfriend-girlfriend thing you've got with Evie,' he hesitated, 'How did you talk her into it?'

Zac smiled bemusedly at Fenn, 'What do you mean?'

Fenn shrugged, 'Well... okay, let's say there's this land girl, and... I dunno...' he shrugged, 'Lyla said that mouth thing you and Evie do... it's not the normal way to... I dunno...' he trailed off, looking helpless - which was _not_ a good look on Fenn.

Zac couldn't help smiling. He'd heard about him greeting Lyla with a kiss. 'The "mouth thing" is called kissing,' he told him, 'And it's usually reserved for _after_ you start dating,'

'How do I do that?' Fenn asked, 'Start the... dating thing, I mean,'

Zac shrugged, 'Ask her. Take her to a movie, or hiking, or get dinner, or something.'

'Go diving with her?' he asked hopefully. Zac grimaced.

'Not diving. Or surfing or swimming or... or anything that involves water.'

'Because of my tail?'

'Yeah,' he patted Fenn on the back, 'You want her to _want_ to hang out with you, not scare her off,'

'So... I have to be friends with her first,' Fenn deduced. Zac nodded.

'It helps,'

''Kay,' he was looking at the ground, clearly thinking hard, 'And to do that, I...'

'Talk to her,' Zac shrugged, 'Find things that you have in common, talk about those things,'

He led Fenn back to the table he and Evie had been sitting at, to find one of the empty chairs had been filled.

'Charli,' he smiled at her, 'Hi,'

'Hi,' Charli managed a small smile to Zac, 'Sorry, I was just talking to Evie about our trig homework,'

'Hi Charli,' Fenn spoke so softly that Zac wasn't entirely sure anybody but him heard it - then he realised who Fenn was talking about moments before.

'Why don't you stay?' he offered, 'Fenn, you too. We can have lunch,'

Evie seemed to catch on immediately, and beamed at Charli, 'Yeah, like a double date,'

Fenn looked at Zac nervously, but Charli was already grabbing her bag.

'Sorry, guys,' she smiled at Zac and Evie apologetically, 'I've gotta get home. Promised Kelly I'd clean out the pool,'

'I thought you hated water?' Zac asked as Charli swung her bag over her shoulder. Her green eyes widened, as if realising she'd said something wrong.

'Pool table,' she stated, 'I meant the pool table. I promised I'd... clean it. It's... covered in paint,' she laughed nervously, 'We did some painting but ended up throwing the paints at each other instead. The place is a rainbow mess. See you at school,'

'Bye,' Evie smiled a little too brightly as she turned back to Zac and Fenn, who was looking between the two uncertainly.

'What was that about?' he asked.

***~X~***

'Is it hard, trying to hide your powers from everyone?' Tyson asked as he tossed the line over the side of the boat. Sirena shrugged.

'Sometimes,' she replied, 'I mean, if we get even a drop of liquid on us, we change instantly. We can't control it,'

'How did you become a mermaid?'

'I was born like this,' Sirena replied, 'We used magic to get our legs, though. Learning to walk was a real trouble. And everything hurt when we were walking,'

'But Zac wasn't born like you,' Tyson pointed out, 'He said his was an accident,'

'It was,' Sirena replied, 'He fell into the Moon Pool during a full moon - we've heard stories of other mermaids having the same connection, from the same sort of accident,'

'But that doesn't reverse it, does it?'

'No,' Sirena admitted, 'We don't know how to reverse it. But that's okay, because Zac has been accepted by the pod now, so he's allowed to keep his powers,'

'What about Caleb?' Tyson asked, 'Would the pod accept him?'

Sirena shrugged, as something pulled tight on the fishing line, 'Quick, reel it in!'

Tyson grappled with the rod, reeling in the fish.

'I've got something!' he shouted to the others, standing up to pull the rod away from the water, 'It's huge!'

Sirena grabbed the rod, trying to help him as Cam and David climbed onto the bow with them.

'Don't let it get away!' Joe shouted, scrambling to look at the fish finder, 'It's a big one!'

Cam reached out to grab the rod, at the same moment Sirena let go. Without her help, Tyson felt himself being pulled forward by the weight on the end of the rod. The prow of the boat raced up to meet him, as someone shouted.

Then he was underwater.

He let go of the rod, gasping in surprise at how _cold_ the water felt. Water rushed into his mouth, and he coughed, flailing his arms and legs as he tried to find the surface.

'He's not coming up,' Cam stated the obvious, as Sirena hurriedly dried the splashed water off her legs. 'Someone needs to get him,'

Before they could say anything, Cam had dived over the prow, disappearing into the water. David and Sirena leaned over the edge, trying to see Cam or Tyson, as Joe joined them. The water looked calm, and they couldn't see anything.

Water erupted from the surface, and Sirena reeled backwards, avoiding it as Joe and David watched anxiously.

'I can't see him!' Cam told them, 'I'm gonna dive deeper,'

'Cam, wait!' David cried, but Cam had already ducked underwater again.

'I'll help him,' Joe said, standing up to pull his shirt off, before diving over the side. Sirena lurched backwards, avoiding more water splashes, before scrambling forward to look over the front. David shared an anxious look with her.

'He can't have gone that far,' she said.

'He might have been pulled away by water grabbed the rod,' David told her, 'Whatever it is, it must be _big_,'

'Like a shark?'

'Probably,'

***~X~***

Lyla stopped racing as she saw Tigris suddenly twist away from them, racing back the way they'd come. She gave Aaron a questioning look, and he shrugged, before twisting and following his brother, Lyla in pursuit.

***~X~***

Sirena and David both whipped around as they heard splashing alongside the starboard side of the boat.

'Still no sign,' Cam's voice called to them, 'I'm gonna try again,'

'Don't dive too far!' David warned as Cam caught his breath. They saw Joe resurface a little off to the front, and shake his head. Cam ducked back underwater.

Sirena and David both heard the beeping that indicated something large - and close, followed by frantic splashing. David clambered around the side, heading for the stern, Sirena following more carefully. She arrived in time to see David pull a sopping wet Tyson onto the boat, and snatched a towel, holding it at arm's length for David to give to Tyson, who was coughing up seawater.

'Where's Cam and Joe?' Tyson asked, his teeth beginning to chatter.

'Off in the water, looking for you,' Sirena told him.

'How did you get back here?' David asked. Tyson looked at Sirena with wide eyes, and she guessed roughly.

'I-I d-don't kn-know-w,' he replied, 'Something-g pushed m-me,'

'Dolphins?' Sirena offered, 'They have helped humans in the past,'

'M-maybe,' Tyson shivered, and David wrapped the towel around him tighter.

'You need to get warm,' he told Tyson, 'Sirena, can you let Joe and Cam know?'

'Sure,' Sirena smiled, keeping well back as David led Tyson into the living quarter of the boat. She had no idea how she was to do that without getting in the water. She saw Joe resurface, closer to the boat, and waved to him.

'He's okay!' she called out. He began to swim back to the boat, pulling himself over the side. Sirena offered him a towel, and he dried off as David reappeared.

'Where's Cam?' he asked. Joe looked around, then at Sirena.

'He hasn't come back,' she said, 'Not yet,'

'Where's Ty?' Joe asked, 'We should make sure he's okay,'

'In there,' David told him, 'Come on,'

Sirena wrung her hands as they disappeared back into the living area, looking all around. They were lucky someone - she was certain it was a some_one_, not a some_thing_ - had saved Tyson; she doubted they would get so lucky a second time.

Cam still hadn't surfaced.

There was nothing else for it. Sirena was about to dive overboard when she spotted the fish finder. Unplugging it, she tossed it into the water - it would only cause them problems.

She dived over the edge, powering downwards.

***~X~***

Cam struggled the natural instinct to breathe in. He was surrounded by greenish light, the location of the source uncertain. His muscles were aching, and he could feel bubbles escaping even though he pursed his lips. His vision was darkening around the edges as he couldn't hold it any more, releasing the last of his air. He kicked, hoping he was swimming in the right direction, but realised he was getting weaker.

A shadow obscured his vision as he passed out.

***~X~***

David leaned over the edge, staring into the water anxiously. Joe was distracted, checking Tyson over, and he had returned to the deck to find Sirena missing - he didn't even know she could swim. He'd never seen her anywhere near water.

Something appeared in the water, rising up, and he glanced back at the cabin - Joe still seemed to be distracted.

Sirena's head broke the surface, and she lifted Cam up, eyes widening as she saw David. He grinned at her in relief, reaching down to pull Cam into the boat.

'He must have dived too far,' David told her as he pulled Cam over the side. Cam coughed a few times, his eyes opening as he coughed up seawater. David held a hand out to Sirena, who hesitated.

'Where's Joe?' she asked. David nodded his head.

'Helping Tyson,'

'Keep him distracted,' she told him, grabbing the side of the boat. David frowned at her, 'I'll explain later,'

She pulled herself up, and David stared at her. Her shirt had disappeared, replaced by a green bikini top that looked like it had been made from plants. But his eyes widened as he saw her lower body. He turned to Cam, who was sitting up, looking at him.

'Yeah,' he nodded, 'You get used to it,'

David turned back to Sirena as she pulled herself over the edge, falling onto one of the seats, and held a hand over her...

He couldn't stop staring. Instead of legs, she had a _tail_!

'David, can you get the blanket-?'

David dived in front of the doorway to block Joe's view of the deck - he knew Joe well enough to know his brother would find some way to exploit this - whatever it was - and make money.

'Sure,' he replied, 'Uh, Cam's okay, too. Sirena pulled him up,'

Joe tried to peer over David's shoulder, David blocking his view.

'He's okay,' David told him, 'Just... wet,'

'Okay, well dry him off as well,' Joe said, turning back to Tyson, 'And get that blanket,'

David nodded, turning back to see Sirena holding the blanket out for him to take, 'Here it is,' he told Joe. He couldn't help noticing Sirena now had legs and looked completely dry.

Cam fell back onto the deck, sighing heavily.


	17. 3x5

'So... you're...'

Sirena managed a small smile. 'Yeah,' she replied, 'Sorry I didn't tell you sooner,'

David stared at her, then at Cam, 'And you knew?'

'Yeah,' Cam nodded.

'So... that wasn't dolphins _or_ sharks that came up on the finder, was it?'

Cam grimaced as he shook his head.

'It was probably others,' Sirena admitted reluctantly. David looked at her.

'And Lyla and Nixie? Are they the same?'

Sirena said 'No,' at the same time Cam said 'Yes,', making David look from one to the other.

'You can't tell anyone,' Sirena told him, 'It's really important that you don't,'

'Is that what saved Tyson?' David asked. Sirena and Cam looked at each other, then nodded. David's eyes widened, and he looked away, clearly trying to digest all the new information.

***~X~***

'That was really brave, what you did,' Lyla told Tigris as they sat at the Bluefin camp. Tigris poked at the fire with a stick, stirring some of the embers.

'I was always taught that if a human fell overboard, we were to rescue them,' he replied, 'Especially the younger ones,'

'It's a huge risk,' Aaron told her, 'But we cannot sit idly by while a land child drowns,'

Lyla smiled as Aaron slung an arm around her shoulders. 'I should be getting home,' she told them, gently shrugging Aaron's arm off her, 'Thank you for today - it's been a long time since I got to swim with whales.'

'You're welcome to join us any time,' Aaron smiled at her, 'Would you like me to escort you home?'

'No, I'll be fine,' Lyla told them, before starting towards the water.

***~X~***

Cam froze dead as he looked up and found himself face-to-face with Zac, who shifted awkwardly.

'Tyson told me about today,' Zac said slowly, 'How you tried to help him,'

'Yeah, I...' Cam shrugged, 'Just trying to help a mate. How is he?'

Zac smiled, 'He's okay,' he hesitated, 'Thanks, too. You pushed yourself so far to try and help,'

'Yeah, and nearly caused more problems,' Cam grimaced. Zac smiled again.

'You didn't mean to - this time, anyway,'

Cam hesitated, 'Look, about what happened on Mako, last full moon-'

'It's fine,' Zac waved a hand, 'You've been a good mate to Tyson lately, and that's what he really needs. So... I guess we're still mates?'

Cam couldn't help smiling. 'Yeah, sure,' his face brightened, 'Mates,'

***~X~***

Charli dumped her bag on the floor and rolled her head, stretching her neck slowly. As she moved further into the house, she stopped by a small table in the hall, scooping something out of a shell dish set on the table.

Slipping the ring onto her finger, she stopped in front of a large hanging tapestry.

'Charli, you promised you'd clean out the pool!' a female voice called from further inside the house. Charli smiled to herself.

'I'm just heading down there now,' she replied, before pulling the tapestry aside to reveal a tight, winding stone stairway.

'While you're down there, can you get me the eel powder? I was gonna make a sauce to go with steak tonight,'

'Sure thing, sis,' Charli smiled as she let the tapestry fall back into place, descending the stairs.


	18. 4x1

He ran his thumb over the blue stone set into the necklace, admiring it's colour. He twirled the bead between his fingers, feeling the texture of the dark volcanic stone that was the moonstone's setting, admiring the overall design - minimalistic, sure, but still enough to deceive land people into thinking it was just a plain necklace.

'Hey, brother, I need help with my algebra,' Rhys stopped as he saw his pod mate scrambling to hide something, and moved toward him slowly, 'What are you doing?'

'Nothing,' he replied, a little too quickly, 'Algebra, huh? Let me see,'

***~X~***

David grinned as he saw Sirena and Nixie enter the café. 'Hey,'

'Hey,' Sirena beamed at him, before she spotted the fish tank in the corner, 'New addition?'

'Huh?' David saw where she was looking and grinned, 'Yeah, Carly's idea. We're going to put some tropical fish in there, once we find some,'

'Oh, I could help!' Sirena offered. David faltered, but smiled at her again.

'Really? That'd be great,'

'What sort of fish do you want?' she asked, as Carly appeared. David turned to her, with a questioning look; Carly froze, suddenly aware of the attention on her.

'Sirena's offered to help us find the right fish for the tank,' he explained to her, 'Seeing as it was your idea, what do you want?'

Carly looked from David to Sirena, then to Nixie, 'Uh, I don't know. Clownfish?'

'I'll get an Angler fish, too,' Sirena offered, 'They look really pretty. And a silvertail,'

'Don't go too overboard,' Carly laughed uncertainly, 'It's only a fish tank. You don't have to spend too much,'

'Oh, I'll just catch them from the reef,' Sirena told her, grinning, 'There's plenty of different types out there. And I'll get some coral, too!'

'That'd look nice,' Carly agreed. David noticed somebody waiting at the counter and stepped back from the discussion.

'I'll let you two organise what to put in the fish tank,' he told them, gesturing. It would be nice if Carly and Sirena could be friends. He liked having Carly as a friend. Maybe a project like this together would be a sort of bonding thing for them.

He hoped so.

Nixie spotted Cam as he entered, and decided it was time to bail on the fish tank conversation. She slipped into the seat beside him, and he grinned at her.

'Can't stay away?' he teased.

'I heard what you did for Tyson,' she told him, 'I just wanted to say, I think that was very selfless of you, pushing yourself to such lengths for him.'

'Well, if Sirena hadn't been there to save me,' he gestured. Nixie rolled her eyes.

'Does this mean you're friends with everyone again?' she asked. Cam shrugged.

'Me and Zac are friends again,' he told her, 'So... maybe,'

'Good,' Nixie grinned as someone stopped in front of their table.

'Nixie, hi,' Charli smiled at her uncertainly. Cam took the opportunity and put his arm around Nixie's shoulders.

'Nixie and I were just talking about my _heroic_ attempt to rescue a friend the other day,' Cam grinned at Charli, who rolled her eyes as she dropped her bag and pulled up a seat.

'Yes, the story about how you braved the darkest depths of the ocean and fought off two giant sea monsters, all in the valiant search of a kid half your age, before running out of air,' she cocked her head, 'And had to be rescued by a _girl_,'

'Oh, so I see his ego hasn't suffered too much damage,' Nixie commented. Charli snorted.

'Hardly. He keeps talking himself up,' she gave Nixie a pitying look, 'I feel worse for you. I'm over it already - and he doesn't even try to impress me,'

'Hey, the "he" in question is still here,' Cam pointed out, before pulling a book out of his bag, 'Hey Nixie, Charli was going to help me with this essay for English class. Want to join?'

'No thanks,' Nixie pulled a face, 'I get enough lessons at school, let alone study outside,'

'You'll flunk all your exams if you're not careful,' Charli warned her, 'You might not think it, but even _this_ school is important,'

Nixie's eyes narrowed. 'What makes you say "this" school?'

Charli looked up from flicking through her notebook, eyes wide and innocent. 'I've moved schools before, too,' she replied, 'I know that after the third or fourth change, you start to think school isn't important - but trust me, it is,'

Cam looked from Charli to Nixie carefully. 'Yeah, Nixie, you should join us for a study session sometime. We usually hang out at Charli's place,'

'You'd be welcome, if you decided you wanted to come,' Charli added, 'At the moment, it's just the two of us,'

Nixie decided she didn't like the sound of that. 'I'll think about it,' she replied, knowing full well that she was going to put a stop to this two-person study date thing.

Charli frowned at the page she had stopped on, as if concentrating. Her hands clutched the table tightly, knuckles turning white.

'You okay?' Cam asked, noticing something seemed to be wrong. Charli looked up at him, then at Nixie - both were watching her carefully. She forced a smile.

'Yeah, just...' she gasped suddenly, eyes widening as they seemed to unfocus, and she gripped the table even tighter. Nixie looked from Cam to Charli as Sirena approached.

'Hi,' she smiled, her face falling as she noticed Charli, 'Is everything okay?'

'I have to go,' Charli said suddenly, standing up. Cam and Nixie stood up as well, Cam reaching out for her and grabbing her arm.

'It's okay,' he told her. She turned her eyes, still unfocused, on him, and they realised she was shaking as she shook her head.

'No, it's not,' she told him, 'I-I have to go,'

She pulled her arm free of Cam's grip and turned, bolting outside. Nixie blinked in confusion.

'What was that about?' she asked. Cam glanced at her and shrugged.

Something told her that he knew _exactly_ what it was about.

***~X~***


	19. 4x2

Cam raced after Charli, grabbing her arm to stop her.

'Hey, what was all that about?' he asked. She shook her head, a single nervous laugh escaping her lips.

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you,' she replied, 'Just leave it alone, Cam. I'm fine,'

'You don't look fine,' he told her as Sirena and Nixie ran up behind him.

'Yeah, you look _pretty_ freaked out,' Nixie added. Charli took a deep breath, looking from one to the other, then pursed her lips, shaking her head.

'Just a sort of... anxiety attack,' she told them, 'I get them sometimes,'

They could all tell she was lying.

'How often?' Cam asked, 'Maybe you should speak to someone about it,'

Charli shook her head, 'It's nothing,' she told them, 'Don't worry about it. I need to get home,'

'I got your stuff,' Sirena held the bag out, and Charli grabbed it, smiling her gratitude. Cam gestured.

'I could walk you,' he offered, 'In case it happens again, and you need help,'

'We'll all come,' Nixie offered. Charli looked at Nixie and Sirena and shook her head the tiniest bit.

'Thanks for the offer, but... just Cam, this time,'

'I'll see you later,' Cam told the girls, flashing a winning smile at Nixie, before putting a supportive arm around Charli's waist and walking away with her. Sirena folded her arms.

'Are they dating?' she asked Nixie, who was scowling.

'I hope not,' she replied.

***~X~***

'I hope you're satisfied,'

Lyla and Zac spun around to see Reef sitting on the edge of the Moon Pool, fluke dangling in the water. She glared at Zac.

'What is _he_ doing here?'

'Zac is part of our pod,' Lyla shot back, 'This is his place, too,'

'He doesn't belong here,' Reef stated, 'He's a bluefin.'

'He has as much right to be here as you do,' Lyla told her, 'We don't even know your name,'

'I told you, call me Reef,' she replied, 'Until I decide I can trust you, that's the only name you get to know me by,'

'What did you come here for?' Zac asked, 'What are we supposed to be satisfied about?'

'The necklace of Neptune,' Reef replied, 'It's back in a bluefin's possession,'

'You don't know that for sure,' Lyla remarked.

'Yes, I do,'

'How?'

Reef hesitated, 'My people have spent enough time near it to know when it's dormant, calling, and awake,' she took a deep breath, 'It's awake again, which means a bluefin has it. And seeing as tonight is a full moon, that would be the best - or worst, depending on your view - time for him to use it,' she shook her head, 'You should have searched it out,'

'Tory and all the mermen agreed not to go looking for it,' Zac pointed out, 'I know you have differences with them, but maybe it's not them that have it,'

'I can't pinpoint the necklace's exact location,' Reef told them, 'But I know it is on this island.'

'How do you know this?' Lyla asked.

'How do you know so much about it?' Zac added. Reef cocked her head, glaring at him, then sighed.

'I can't _believe_ I'm telling a bluefin this,' she sighed.

_'_I'm not a Bluefin,' Zac told her. She glared at him.

'You're a merman, correct?'

Zac hesitated, 'Yes,'

'Your tail is blue?'

'...Yes,'

'You're a bluefin,' Reef told him, 'Just like Lyla and her friends are greentails, just like I'm a reefer - I guess it could be called your racial designation. _Anyway_,' she sighed, 'Reefers were entrusted with the guardianship of the necklace when it was seized from the mermen. As we grew up with it in our midst, passed down by our own, we became attuned to it. Several times, we would hand it to a passing, peaceful merman, so that we could ensure we would know when it was no longer dormant. _That_ is how I know it is now awake, and waiting to be used,'

'Why were reefers entrusted with it?' Lyla asked, 'What's so special about your group?'

Reef rolled her eyes, 'We're better at hiding in plain sight, especially from humans. _Anyway_, the bluefins have the necklace again,' she told them, 'Just hope they don't find this Moon Pool,'

'It drains energy from mermen as well,' Zac told her, 'Tory said that it only serves to make the wearer stronger, and drains all merpeople around it,'

Reef and Lyla both frowned at him. 'Tory, the leader of the bluefin pod?' Reef asked. Zac nodded, and she groaned. 'You _can't trust him_. The necklace drains _mermaid_ power, passing it on to the _mermen_,' she explained, 'And if it gets inside here, it will drain the power of every mermaid connected to this Moon Pool - including you,' she added, 'You might be able to convince Tory to help you, as well as Aquiius and Loren, but not all of the pod,'

'You seem to know them well,' Lyla commented, 'Who do you think would be the type to go looking for it?'

Reef hesitated. 'My money would be on Tigris or Fenn,' she replied, 'Of course, Niall or Rhys could have picked it up by accident,'

'Tory, Aquiius, Loren and Aaron,' Lyla ticked the names off on her fingers, 'They're least likely to have it,'

'If Fenn has it, Aaron would know,' Reef replied, 'Otherwise, you have buckley's chance of finding it.'

***~X~***

Rita found Sirena and Nixie searching through one of her old mermaid volumes. 'What are you two up to?' she asked. The two girls looked at each other.

'Rita, how much do you know about reef mermaids, exactly?' Nixie asked. Rita frowned at her.

'Not a lot, really; they usually keep to themselves,' she sat down facing the two girls, 'Their pod sizes are smaller, for one, and they put stronger connection in familial ties. And they're born with the ability to have legs,' she shook her head, 'Aside from that, really not that much,'

'Can they control their transformations?' Nixie asked. Rita tilted her head, thinking carefully.

'I _did_ hear this old legend that they only transform in salt water,' she replied, 'I never really put much stock to it, though, as I've never met any on land. Is this about Charli again?' she asked. Nixie and Sirena exchanged looks.

'When I sprayed her with water, at school, she didn't transform,' Nixie pointed out, 'But nobody knows anything about her, not really.'

'And just now, at the café, she had this weird panic attack,' Sirena added, 'Like she was possessed or something,'

'Who else noticed it?' Rita asked. Nixie and Sirena shook their heads.

'Only Cam,' Sirena replied, 'He took her home,'

'Is she close with Cam?' Rita asked. Nixie scoffed.

'They're just friends,' she replied quickly. Rita caught the edge in her voice and nodded slowly.

'Well, I'd say Cam might know more about her than I do,' she admitted, 'Maybe you should wait and ask him,'

'He wouldn't tell us anything,' Sirena replied. Rita shrugged.

'Well, I don't know anything more,' she told them, 'I suppose I _could_ help you find more information, though I have to go to a staff meeting soon,' she added, checking her watch. Nixie smiled.

'Thanks, Rita,'


	20. 4x3

David put the plate on the table between the two teenagers.

'I'm telling you, man, the only shark it could have been was a Great White,' one of them was telling the other, 'I saw the tail - it was _huge_!'

'Shark?' David asked, perking up. The second of the two waved a hand.

'Josh reckons he saw a shark out in the bay,' he told David, 'Something _big_ came up on the fish finder - bigger than any shark I've ever seen.'

'Maybe you should warn Coast Patrol,' David suggested, instantly thinking of Sirena, 'If there's a shark in the area, that's not good news for anyone swimming in the area,'

'Yeah, he's right,' Josh's friend told him, 'They'll put up nets to catch it, or something,'

'That _is_ a good idea,' Josh nodded, 'Do you have the number?' he asked David, who nodded.

'I'll get it for you,'

***~X~***

Sirena returned to the café, carrying a large bucket, and set it on one of the tables as David joined her.

'I found two clownfish,' she grinned as David peered into the bucket, 'And an angler fish, too,'

'Sirena, these are great,' he beamed at her, 'Carly's gonna love them,'

'What am I gonna love?' Carly asked, appearing behind David. She peered into the bucket and grinned, 'Wow, Sirena, thank you! How did you get them so fast?'

'I know the right places,' Sirena replied mysteriously, 'You need to get them into the tank, soon. They can't live in a bucket forever,'

'Sure,'

'I also got these,' she added, fishing two pieces of white coral out of her pocket, 'They went white as soon as I brought them above water,' she apologised, but Carly shrugged it off.

'It usually does that,' she told Sirena, 'It still looks nice, though. Come on, lets get these into the tank,'

'I made sure it was filled with seawater,' David told Sirena, 'So they don't get sick. It's roughly the same temperature they would have on the reef, too,'

Sirena stood well back as Carly reached into the bucket, managing to catch one of the fish gently and transfer it to the tank water. It began swimming around the tank happily, exploring it's new home, and Carly grinned.

'We should give them names,' she told Sirena, as David went to get an order. Sirena looked at her with wide eyes, 'We could call this one Nemo,'

'That sounds good,' Sirena replied, secretly thinking it didn't sound like a good name at all, 'What about the other one? I like the name Garth,'

Carly grinned, 'Sure, Garth it is,' she grabbed "Garth" out of the bucket and gently put him in the tank, before rescuing the angler fish and placing it with it's friends, 'Maybe we could get a pufferfish, too?'

'I'll try, but they're not common on the reef,' Sirena warned her. Carly frowned at her, picking up the bucket.

'Did you catch them yourself?' she asked. Sirena hesitated, nodding, and Carly grinned at her. 'You're a mystery with many talents,' Carly told her, then gestured to the bucket, 'I'll go empty this so you can have it back,'

'Thanks, Carly,' Sirena couldn't stop grinning.

***~X~***

Zac waved to Tory as he walked up the beach, and Tory grinned back at him.

'Lovely day to go hunting,' Tory remarked as Zac joined him, 'What brings you out here?'

'Trouble,' Zac replied, 'Is there somewhere we can talk?'

***~X~***

'Feeling better?' Nixie asked Charli, running along the path to catch up with her. Charli smiled weakly.

'Sorry about stealing Cam,' she said, 'I just... trust him, with a lot of stuff,'

'Well, you can trust me, too,' Nixie told her, 'What sort of stuff do you trust him with?'

Charli smiled to herself. 'Sorry, Nixie, but I hardly know you,' she shrugged, then hesitated, 'Cam told me about you guys,' she said slowly. Nixie stared at her.

'Wait, what?'

'Yeah,' Charli grimaced, 'How he tricked you into stealing something of your aunt's, so he could make money off it,' she shrugged, 'We all fall for the bad boy at some point, but he's really an okay guy,'

'Is that what he said?' Nixie asked. Well, that was _one_ way of putting it, she guessed. She walked slowly beside Charli, 'You sound like you guys are pretty close,'

'He trusts me,' Charli replied, 'Just like I trust him. No offence,' she added, realising how her words could be misinterpreted. She smiled slightly, 'He talks about you,'

'Really?' Nixie tilted her head, 'What does he say?'

Charli grinned, 'That you're headstrong and act before you think, you cut to the chase, and you put yourself out there,' she smiled at Nixie, 'He likes it all, though. It makes you different to other girls. Makes you special,'

'He said that?' Nixie couldn't imagine Cam talking about feelings too much with _any_ girl, let alone someone he'd just met.

'Not in those words exactly,' Charli admitted, 'But I don't need a lie detector to know he likes you. And, while what he tried to do sounds pretty bad, you should give him a second chance,' she grimaced, 'Sometimes, greed gets the better of us,'

'Thanks, Charli,' Nixie smiled at her gently as they stopped walking. Charli gestured.

'This is mine,' she told Nixie, 'I'll see you at school?'

'With any luck,' Nixie replied, glancing at the house. It looked stylishly modern, like Rita's, but as it was mostly shrouded by plants, it also gave a mysterious feel to the area around it.

'Hey Nixie,' Charli had started towards it, but turned back to her, 'I meant what I said, about school being important. And about the study sessions. You know where I live, now,'

'Which isn't an entirely good thing for _you_,' Nixie couldn't help herself saying softly, as Charli turned back, disappearing into the trees around her house.

***~X~***

Tory heard him out, with Aquiius and Loren joining them. When Zac finished, Tory grimaced.

'Sorry I lied to you,' he said slowly, 'I knew it was important we find the necklace; I thought that if I made you believe we were _all_ in danger, we'd be able to find it faster,'

'We have not felt the power we knew when Caleb wore the necklace,' Aquiius told Zac, 'As you were human at the time, you were not aware, but we all knew as soon as the boy became mer-boy. We would know if another merman wore it,'

'And as far as we know, it is only dangerous when _worn_ by a merman,' Tory added, 'I'll search the men's belongings, but I don't think we will find it,'

Zac looked carefully at Tory's face, studying him, then nodded. 'Okay,' he nodded, 'Caleb wouldn't have picked it up a second time, but I'll ask him, just in case,'

'He went out on the reef, with Niall,' Loren told him, 'The two are almost inseparable,'

Zac nodded slowly as Tory walked him back down the beach. He remembered when Caleb and Tyson were joined at the hip. Idly, he wondered where Tyson was.

Tory stared out to sea, where Zac had disappeared, sensing Aquiius approach him from behind.

'Fenn?' Aquiius asked. Tory nodded.

'He's on land right now,' Tory told Aquiius, 'We can search his belongings before he returns,'

***~X~***

Carly saw Evie sitting at a table alone, staring at a piece of paper in her hand, as if in shock. Slowly, she approached her friend.

'Evie?' she asked. Evie looked up at her, startled, and stuffed the paper into her bag.

'Sorry, just... just going over my grades on the chemistry assignment,' she told her friend. Carly frowned slightly.

'We got those back weeks ago,' she pointed out, 'Why would you be going over them now?'

'Checking,' Evie smiled brightly as she stood up, 'Gotta go, I'm staying over at Zac's tonight,'

'Right,' Carly said slowly, not entirely believing Evie's reply, 'Have fun,'

She cleared Evie's table, spotting the envelope straight away. She knew it was wrong to snoop, but she couldn't help herself. She turned over the envelope to see who it had been sent from, and her eyes widened as she read the name at the top.

_Australian Institute of Sport_

***~X~***

'There,' Zac pressed tape to the edge of the black tarp, 'Should be moonlight-proof,'

'Is this _really_ necessary?' Tyson asked. It was the first time he'd seen Tyson and Caleb in the same spot since just after the necklace incident. They both looked slightly uncomfortable about being in such close proximity to each other.

'My first full moon was a _really_ hard time,' Zac warned him, 'I don't know if it'll affect you as badly, but this,' he gestured to the room, 'Is to keep both of us safe.'

'What about the Bluefins?' Tyson asked, 'Their camp is out in the moonlight?'

'They'll all be out at sea,' Zac replied, 'They have this sort of ceremony thing they do, same as the mermaids,'

The door was pushed open, and Evie smiled brightly as she entered. 'All set?' she asked, looking at Caleb, 'Nervous?'

'Sorta,' Caleb admitted, 'Zac told me his first time was really tough,'

'I don't know,' Evie admitted, 'I wasn't there,'

Zac grimaced slightly at the barb; the first time he'd encountered the full moon's power after becoming a merman, he had alienated Evie and Cam and relied on Lyla, Nixie and Sirena to help him - which they had tried to do, but it hadn't worked out too well.

'Sunset in an hour,' Zac noted, checking his watch, 'Who's up for a movie?'


	21. 4x4

Fenn returned to the camp to find it deserted, save for one person. Tigris eyed him carefully.

'Where's everyone else?' Fenn asked, gesturing.

'Tory and the others left early, to get far enough from shore for the others to be _safe_,' he replied, 'I need to know, Fenn - are we still together on this?'

Fenn hesitated. Of all his pod, Tigris was the last one he felt he should trust. But then, Tigris was also the one who had spoken up for him, when he had asked to join the pod.

Tigris arched an eyebrow. 'Well?'

'Sure,' Fenn smiled tightly, 'What am I supposed to do?'

'Just do exactly as I say,' Tigris replied, fixing him with a steely glare, 'We have to get to land,'

'Land?' Fenn hesitated, 'But... it's the full moon tonight?'

'Exactly!' Tigris leaped up, 'What better time to demonstrate our strength, to both our pod and the greentails? We are weakest on land - imagine, the strength and _power_ we exhibit tonight, it will only be increased tenfold in water, and they will _know_ that!'

Fenn hesitated, 'People could get hurt,'

'Every war has casualties,' Tigris told him, slapping him on the back, 'I have... recruited some more followers for you. We are meeting them there. Come on,'

Fenn hesitated, before following Tigris to the beach.

***~X~***

Sirena paused in the doorway to the café, taking note of the amount of people seated there. It had been David's idea to perform tonight, of all nights. She blamed herself, because she hadn't exactly told him about the effect the full moon had on her.

Thankfully, weather reports had indicated an overcast night, which meant she should be safe enough to perform, at least for part of the night.

David waved to her from the stage area, where he was tuning his guitar. Sirena waved back, grinning, and waved to Carly as well. Since she'd started collecting fish for the tank, Carly had warmed towards her significantly.

'Good luck,' Lyla told her.

'Yeah,' Nixie smirked, 'We'll be watching,'

'Thanks, guys,' Sirena grinned at them, before turning towards the stage.

Nixie spotted Charli sitting at the table closest to the fish tank, and nudged Lyla. They made their way over, joining her.

'Can't resist the music?' Nixie teased. Charli had spread papers over the table, and scrambled to tidy them up before the two had a chance to see them. She smiled at the two.

'Or the food,' she grinned, 'The burgers here are the _best_, you should try them sometime,'

'No, we're on a strict seafood diet,' Lyla replied, sliding one of the papers towards herself as she sat down, 'Charting waters, huh?'

'Yeah,' Charli snatched the paper back, stuffing them into a pile and shoving them in her bag, 'Kelly asked me to copy some info from certain charts onto others,'

'They looked pretty detailed,' Nixie remarked, as she heard David's guitar begin to play, 'It's starting,'

Charli watched the two girls turn to watch their friend perform, taking the opportunity to slip her moon ring off and deposit it into her pocket. She pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail, and threw a cautious glance at the fish tank. She could smell the seawater from where she was sitting. So long as it didn't break, though...

'What are _they_ doing here?' Lyla hissed, spotting the group of males enter, taking seat at a table towards the back. Charli glanced back and recognised Fenn with a jolt. With him were two younger males, and an older one.

'Go ask,' Nixie suggested. Lyla glanced at her, then stood up, crossing to the mermen.

'Hey,' she said softly, sliding in beside Niall, 'I thought you guys were supposed to be doing some sort of ceremony,'

'Around midnight,' Tigris replied, 'We have time to come and watch Sirena sing,'

'But, the full moon-'

'-Is not as devastating to us as to you,' Tigris replied, smiling thinly, 'We can control ourselves under it's influence.'

'What did they say?' Nixie asked as Lyla returned, all too aware that Charli was watching them intently.

'He said they were leaving straight after,' Lyla replied, 'We just have to hope no trouble rises in the meantime,'

Charli looked away from their whispered conversation, noticing Fenn clenching his fist slowly under the table. She heard something cracking slowly, and looked at the nearest glass object - the fish tank.

That was _definitely_ not allowed to happen, she thought, freezing the crack - and the rest of the tank's exterior, just to be safe. As she finished that, she saw Rhys gesturing under the table as well, his eyes on the back room.

'Girls,' Charli whispered to Lyla and Nixie, then nodded her head in the direction of the mermen, drawing the girls' attention to their subtle hand gestures. Lyla and Nixie frowned at each other, then at Charli.

'They're starting a fire,' Charli whispered, suddenly realising the girls must never have encountered pyrokinesis before.

'How do you know?'

'Don't ask me how I know, I just know,' she hissed, 'Distract them, I'll go put it out,'

She slipped away from them, racing into the back storage area, where she saw it immediately.

Lyla slid in beside Rhys, Nixie sitting beside Niall. 'Mind if we join?' she asked innocently. Tigris and Fenn both looked slightly annoyed, but Rhys smiled brightly. Lyla noticed that he stopped the hand movements as soon as she had joined him.

***~X~***

Caleb was pacing, anxious. Zac didn't feel as troubled as he used to, but he guessed that was because he'd had nearly a full year's experience with the full moon.

'Is he alright?' Evie asked Zac softly. Zac nodded.

'He'll be okay,'

'Zac,' Caleb sounded nervous, still pacing, 'I can't do this,'

'Yes, you can,' Zac told him, 'You've got to fight it,'

Caleb shook his head, 'I can't,'

'Cal,' Tyson stood in front of his twin, addressing him directly for the first time in weeks, 'You can. You're strong, you'll be okay,'

Caleb shook his head, Zac sitting bolt upright as he saw the black tarp rippling over the windows. 'I-I can't,' he stammered, squeezing his eyes shut, 'I have to _go_!'

The black tarps ripped away from the windows, and the room was bathed in muted moonlight. Zac squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to feel the pull grow even stronger, but nothing happened to him. Evie was holding his arm, nails digging into his skin.

'Move!' Caleb roared. Zac opened his eyes to see Tyson standing in front of the door, shaking his head.

'You're not leaving!' Tyson told him, 'Fight it!'

Caleb responded by raising his hand, flinging Tyson aside and pulling the door open. He took one look at Zac and Evie, who were scrambling to their feet, before running outside.

'Make sure he's alright,' Zac told Evie, gesturing to Tyson as he ran after Caleb. He followed the kid onto the dock, just in time to see him dive into the water. Zac didn't even hesitate, diving in after him.

Evie helped Tyson to his feet, noticing the cut on his cheek from falling against the coffee table.

'We have to follow them,' Tyson said. Evie shook her head.

'I don't know where they'd go,' she replied, then a thought hit her, 'But I know where to find someone who will,'


	22. 4x5

Zac raced along the boardwalk after Caleb.

'Don't do this!' he cried, trying to catch up. Caleb turned, throwing him backwards. Zac hit the ground flat, winded, and Caleb turned, sprinting towards the café.

Tigris looked up as he entered, clenching his fist. A small fire burst out of the refrigerator, catching everyone's attention immediately. David stopped playing, turning as Carly grabbed a fire extinguisher. Unseen by everyone but Tigris, Caleb threw her against the wall, and she fell to the ground.

Zac raced in, fighting as people began to rush out. Lyla and Nixie stood with the other mermen, as Caleb threw them to the side, away from the mermen. They hit the floor, sliding, as Charli reappeared from the back room.

'Where is it?' Caleb asked the mermen. Rhys had moved back, but Niall stood speechless, watching his friend.

'Caleb?'

Caleb held out his hand, looking at Tigris, 'Give it to me,'

Tigris met his gaze coolly.

'You can't control it,'

Zac lunged to tackle Caleb, who flicked his hand effortlessly. Zac fell against a table, crying out as he felt the side dig into his ribs painfully. Sirena started forward, but Lyla and Nixie grabbed her, stopping her.

'He's too strong,' Nixie told her.

'Where _is_ it?' Caleb asked, still glaring at Tigris. He shook his head. Footsteps could be heard on the boardwalk outside, running towards them, but nobody turned to look as Tyson and Evie ran in.

'Evie, don't!' Zac warned her, realising she was about to try and grab Caleb. Caleb didn't even look at her as she faltered, before running to Zac's side.

'Give it to me, or I'll take it,' Caleb told Tigris.

'I don't have it,' Tigris replied. He was flung backwards, smacking into the wall heavily before hitting the ground. Fenn turned back to Caleb, holding out a hand in a defensive gesture.

'I don't have it anymore,' Fenn told him, 'I did, but I gave it to someone else, to look after,'

'Who?' Caleb asked. Fenn hesitated, eyes flicking to Rhys. Caleb turned to him, and Rhys took three quick steps backwards.

'It's not with me,' Rhys said, as something beneath his shirt began to glow light blue. Caleb's eyes narrowed, and Rhys took another step backwards. He reached up to fumble with the catch, pulling it off.

'Take it!' he cried, tossing it at Caleb.

'No!' Charli dived forward, throwing him backwards. The necklace hit the ground, sliding, and Tyson scooped it up. Caleb shook himself, getting to his feet, and threw Charli backwards. She hit the fish tank, breaking both the ice shield and the glass, the salty water encasing her torso.

Tyson froze as Caleb turned to him, looking nothing like himself at all. He realised he was holding the necklace, and looked down at it, then at Caleb.

'Give it to me,' Caleb said slowly. Tyson's hands were shaking, and he took several deep breaths. His hand slowly extended to Caleb, who continued to glare at him.

'Don't!' Sirena cried.

'Tyson, _no_!'

'You were always the better one,' Tyson told Caleb softly, then shook his head, 'Not anymore,'

Tyson lunged forward, shoving Caleb backwards as hard as he could, before sprinting outside. Zac raced after him, Niall and Lyla following.

'Tyson!'

Zac stopped at the railing in time to see him hit the water, diving deep down. He began to climb the railing when a hand grabbed him, pulling him back.

'Don't do it!'

'Get off me!' Zac tried to shove Cam away, but Cam held on.

'He's doing what he thinks is right,' Cam replied, 'He'll be okay,'

***~X~***

Nixie, Sirena and Fenn stood over Charli. She flipped her purple tail irritably.

'You act like you've never seen me before,' she scowled, 'Get me out of this mess,'

'"Reef"?' Nixie raised her eyebrows.

'What happened to your hair?' Sirena asked. Charli rolled her eyes.

'I dyed it. Duh,' she gestured, 'Get me out,'

David was crouched over Carly, watching the exchange. He couldn't stop staring at Charli - another mermaid, apparently - and then at Sirena, Nixie, and Fenn, who were acting as though this was totally normal behaviour. He glanced back at the fridge, having put the fire out, and then at Carly, who was stirring. Her eyes flickered open and she looked up at David. He grinned, relieved she was okay.

'Take it easy,' he told her, then looked over at Charli, who was... steaming her tail?

Seconds later, her tail morphed into a pair of legs. Okay, that was _totally_ normal.

***~X~***

'And Caleb doesn't remember any of it?' Rita asked. Zac shook his head.

'He thinks he just crashed,' Zac replied, 'I didn't have the heart to tell him,'

'Has Tyson returned?'

'You won't see Tyson for a while,' Charli replied, looking at the ground. She raised her eyes as Rita, Zac, and the girls all looked at her expectantly, 'You really think Cam and I spent so much time studying? Have you _seen_ his grades lately?'

'You were planning this?' Nixie asked. Charli shrugged.

'Kelly and I knew the merman with the necklace would out himself at some point,' she explained, 'We... _didn't_ expect it to be so public, but hey,' she shrugged, 'The plan was to get the necklace first. It was actually supposed to be Cam that stashed it - teenage boys run away from home all the time,' she grimaced, 'But Tyson got it first.'

'You were going to trust _Cam_ with it?' Lyla asked, 'Are you crazy? The last time he had a merman weapon, he tried to destroy the Moon Pool,'

'But he _didn't_ and he realised his error,' Charli stood up, 'Before he even knew what I was, he confided in me. Then... he found our private pool,' she grimaced, 'He'd seen the Moon Pool, recognised ours straight away. I had to tell him - the fact that he didn't even tell you guys... that's why I trust him,'

Nixie dropped her gaze. Rita waved a hand.

'So why are you so far from your reef pod?' she asked Charli, who grimaced.

'The wrong sort of mermen came sniffing for the necklace,' she replied, 'Kelly decided it was best to bail. We didn't even say goodbye; none of our pod knows we're here,' she hesitated, 'They probably think we're dead - better for them, though,'

Zac nodded, 'So you actually _did_ run away,'

Charli smirked. 'You'd be surprised how much truth I gave you and Evie in that interview,' she told him.

'So, how long until Tyson returns?' Sirena asked. Charli shrugged.

'We were trying to find secret places nearby to hide it,' she replied, 'We decided on about six different locations - it could be at any one of those,'

'Tyson's not a merman, though,' Zac pointed out, 'And he didn't stop to get scuba gear,'

'Will you re_lax_?' Charli asked, 'He'll be fine. He'll deny it, but he's the stronger of the two. He never even intended to give it to Caleb,'

Zac sighed, 'I just hope he comes back soon. Mum's already started to worry,'

***~X~***

Caleb sat on the dock, staring at the water of the canal. He didn't look up as he heard footsteps approach, or the figure sit beside him.

'It's my fault, isn't it?' Caleb asked, not bothering to look at who it was. Cam frowned slightly, 'It's my fault Tyson ran away,'

'No,' Cam put an arm around the kid's shoulders, 'He's doing what he thinks is right,'

'What, running away?' Caleb shook his head, 'If the necklace drew me to it like that, then it would draw other mermen towards it. He could be in serious trouble,'

'He'll be fine,' Cam grinned, 'You're both stronger than you give yourselves credit for. Not many thirteen-year-olds would be able to handle this sort of stuff.'

'Kids are resilient,' Caleb said, 'I read that in a book somewhere, once.'

'Yeah,' Cam grinned, 'Tyson'll come back, and everything will be okay,'

Caleb sighed heavily, still staring at the water. 'I hope you're right,'

***~X~***

Tigris gazed at Tory coolly. The tension between the two was so thick it could probably be carved.

'Tigris,' Tory began, 'You've dishonoured our pod, and brought shame upon yourself. For your unforgivable actions, and the pitiful excuse you offer in your defence, you are cast out of this pod. You may swim in these waters, join in our ceremonies, or hunt our grounds no longer, upon pain of death,'

Tigris's eyes flicked to Lyla, Sirena and Nixie, who stood just off to the right. Zac kept a stony face, his hand on Caleb's shoulder.

'If anyone chooses to leave with Tigris, speak now,' Tory said, raising his voice as he looked at the mermen gathered around him. Fenn shifted awkwardly, but no one moved to stand with him.

'Tigris,' Tory turned back to him expectantly, holding his hand out. Tigris narrowed his eyes, before grabbing the necklace he wore and yanking it free, letting it drop in the sand. Tory held a hand over it, and the necklace was engulfed in flame.

'Leave now, and do not return,'

Tigris turned, walking towards the water. He made it to knee depth, before diving under the water. Tory turned to Fenn.

'This one will be kept under watch,' Tory said, loudly enough that everyone could hear.

Zac sighed, mostly in relief, as the group turned and began back towards the camp. Tory had barely spared Caleb a glance - he'd already told them Caleb would be spared as it was his first full moon experience.

Nixie smiled wryly. 'And then there was seven,'


	23. 5x1

_So I don't know what went down with the site last night, but I couldn't see any traffic stats and it now says that nobody's visited chapters 4x1-4x4..._

_Like I've said before, if this gets boring or clichéd or something, let me know. I'm also thinking of reorganising these into separate stories, grouping all relevant chapters together so you don't have to search through a crapload of chapters for the right part. Thoughts on that idea?_

_Talk to me, guys. Let me know, or it won't get any better._:)

**-Bullets**

* * *

Zac stared at the _Have You Seen This Boy_ poster that had been pasted to the wall of the café. He had tried talking his mother out of it, but after the second week, she had become frantic. The police were involved, and posters lined the boulevards. Everyone had been alerted, including his parents - who were preparing to fly over from Perth - once they could agree on a flight time.

Caleb had retreated into a shell, not even responding to Niall's attempts at talking to him. Zac had dragged him out swimming a few times, but nothing had seemed to work. He barely even went to school anymore, staying in the room the two had shared

'The furthest location we looked at was six days from here, even by low-speed boat,' Charli had admitted to him that morning, 'It shouldn't have taken this long. The bluefins are keeping eyes out for him, last I heard, and I've been doing sweeps whenever I can, but...'

'You okay?'

Zac glanced to his side to see David, who had spotted the poster. David put a hand on his shoulder. 'Everyone's out looking for him,' he offered, 'They'll find him,'

'Will that be before or after he-' Zac cut himself off, forcing the thought away. It had been weighing on his mind more and more lately, that something unaccounted for had happened - maybe he'd gotten caught in a storm, or maybe been attacked. Or maybe another merman had gotten him...

Zac shook his head. He had to stop thinking like that.

David grimaced. 'I know it seems rough, but you've just gotta have hope,'

Zac looked back at the poster. Weeks ago, he wouldn't have minded so much. Tyson and Caleb had been nuisances, annoying to have around. Now...

Now, he would give anything to have them both back to how they used to be.

'Hope,' Zac sighed heavily, 'Sure,'

***~X~***

Charli had finished stowing her belongings in her locker when the door suddenly slammed shut.

'Thanks,' she told Cam, 'Because I'm totally incapable of closing a locker on my own,'

'Tyson's still not back,' Cam told her. She raised her eyebrows.

'Yeah, I heard. Thanks for the update,'

'You said he wouldn't take that long,' Cam reminded her, falling into step beside her. He grabbed her arm, 'Hey-!'

Charli whirled around, shoving him against the lockers.

'He is alive,' she said, clearly trying to keep her anger in check, 'The next full moon is a week away. We stay calm until then, and then I'll track the necklace down, and find him, and bring him back.'

Cam looked her up and down, suddenly uncomfortably aware that she was stronger than him, and had him pinned against the lockers. He pushed her away, straightening his shirt.

'You better hope you're right,' he warned her, 'If anything's happened to him-'

'He took the boat,' she told him, 'It was full of fuel and enough food to last even a growing boy more than a month, plus camping gear. He'll be fine.'

Cam glared at her dangerously. 'You didn't account for other mermen,'

'There's no sign of even rogue mermen in the area,' she told him, 'I'd know if there were other bluefins in the area. I'd sense it.'

'You'd sense another merman?'

'They have a stench worse than land people,' she told him, screwing her nose up at him. Cam frowned at her.

'I kinda keep forgetting you're full fish. You do the human thing so well,'

'Years of practice,'

***~X~***

Lyla frowned at the page, not quite understanding the maths problems laid out for her. She didn't realise someone had sat beside her until he cleared his throat.

'Rhys,' she jumped in surprise, 'Hi,'

'Hi,' Rhys managed a short smile, 'I was wondering if you knew where Zac was? It's kinda urgent that I find him,'

'Uh, I think we have English next,' Lyla replied, 'What do you need him for?'

Rhys was in the middle of standing up, and glanced to the side uncertainly. 'Uh... Thanks, Lyla. See you 'round,'

Lyla frowned as Rhys raced off.

***~X~***

'Zac,'

Zac spun around to see Rhys running towards him. He'd seen Rhys, Tory and Niall at school, but they'd barely spoken a word to him since the last full moon, over three weeks ago now.

'Hey,' he greeted Rhys, who skidded to a halt beside him.

'There's poachers,' Rhys told him, cutting straight to the chase. Zac glanced around, gesturing for Rhys to step away from the middle of the walkway.

'What?'

'Poachers,' Rhys replied, 'Around Mako Island. They're going for dolphins, but they nearly got Niall the other day,'

'How?' Zac asked, 'I thought it was near impossible to catch dolphins?'

'They use a trawler net,' Rhys replied as Charli and Cam joined them, 'They've been trawling just off the reef. We've told the dolphins to stay away from them, but there's too many at this time of year, and they just don't listen,'

'Dolphin poachers?' Charli asked, looking from Zac to Rhys, 'Have you told the water police?'

'What's the "water police"?' Rhys asked, looking at her.

'They won't know where to go, that far out,' Zac told her, 'They'd ask someone to lead them, and I don't think you'd be too eager to sit in a boat with them.' Charli rolled her eyes as he turned back to Rhys, 'Why are you telling me, though?'

'Tory won't let us head them off without six people,' he replied, 'So far, it's me, Aaron and Niall - we need three more,' he looked at Zac hopefully, 'You should come, and Caleb,'

Zac looked at Charli and Cam. Cam shrugged, but Charli moved closer to Rhys.

'I'll come, too,' she told him, 'That'll make six, if Caleb's up for it,'

'I dunno,' Zac grimaced, 'He's barely been in the water lately,'

'I could come,' Cam offered. Charli rolled her eyes at him.

'Last I checked, you weren't a fish boy,' she told him. Cam deflated, and she seemed to realise that her barb had actually stung, 'I mean, we'll be zipping around underwater most of the time,' she explained, 'Even freediving, you might not be as agile. You could get hurt,'

'You worry about me?' Cam grinned at her. Zac and Rhys both rolled their eyes.

'Sorry Cam, but Charli's right,' Zac told him, 'You'd be more likely to get hurt, and I don't think any of us want to risk that,'

'You and Kelly used to go after poachers together,' Cam reminded Charli, who groaned.

'Yes, but she grew up a mermaid,' Charli pointed out.

'You need six,' Cam told Rhys, 'I'll make six. We could even go tonight,'

Rhys hesitated, then shrugged. 'I don't see why not,' he replied, 'Even if you are a land boy,'

'I'd rather be a landboy than a fish,' Cam shot back.

'Cut it out,' Zac told them. He looked at Rhys, 'I don't know if I _can_,'

'There's always Lyla, Nixie and Sirena,' Charli pointed out, 'We could invite Nixie - she speaks dolphin,'

'Niall speaks dolphin, too,' Rhys told her, 'Okay, we'll meet on Mako after school,'

'Done deal,' Charli nodded as the bell rang.


	24. 5x2

_In response to Guest's review - greeny-gold, I guess. I'm partially colourblind, so I interpreted the colour as a weird shade of green. Yay for visual impairment!_

**-Bullets**

* * *

Nixie was beginning to enjoy chemistry class with Tory, mainly for the simple fact that he insisted on cheating with all their practical experiments.

'Aren't you supposed to be _responsible_?' Nixie asked him as he heated up their metal piece a little too fast. He shrugged.

'So long as we learn the theory,' he replied, dunking the metal into the solution they'd already mixed up, 'I see no problem with taking a few shortcuts,'

'The teacher will notice something,' Nixie pointed out, 'We're always the first ones finished,'

'He thinks we're just excellent students,' Tory replied, pulling a glove on to wipe off a liquid spill, 'Can you cool that?'

'It's still on the burner,' Nixie pointed out, 'Even _I_ know that something on the burner can't cool down,'

'Well, take it off the burner,' Tory looked at her like the answer was obvious. He scrunched up the paper towel he'd used to mop up the water and held it up, 'I'm gonna chuck this out. Reckon you can hold fort?'

Nixie gave him an even glare. 'I think I can manage turning a burner off,'

Tory smirked, heading towards the bin at the front of the classroom. Nixie returned the smirk, not looking as she reached to turn off the Bunsen burner. Her hand hit the beaker, knocking it over and spilling the experiment across the counter. Her eyes widened as she saw it spill over the edge-

-and freezing millimetres before hitting her shirt. She stared at the crystalline sculpture that was, seconds ago, a water-based solution, and then looked over at Tory, who was standing in front of the rubbish bin, one hand held out towards her. He winked, tossing the scrunched up paper into the bin, and starting back towards her.

Nixie snapped the edges of the crystal off, tossing them onto the bench as the teacher passed. He stopped and took a step back to look at the crystal shards on the bench.

'That's an interesting trick,' he commented, 'How did you shape it before it set?'

'Uh,' Nixie faltered.

'Quick fingers,' Tory supplied, returning to their bench, 'Nixie was telling me how she plays guitar, and we all know guitarists have fast fingers,'

'Yeah,' Nixie nodded. The teacher smiled at the two.

'Well, you can clean your stuff up and head out early if you've finished,'

Nixie waited until the teacher had passed before smiling at Tory.

'How did you know when you weren't even looking?' she asked. He shrugged.

'I heard the beaker spill,' he replied, 'Figured it was you - you've got clumsy hands. Sorry,' he added, snapping off more of the crystal formation. Nixie picked up a small piece and flicked it at him.

'Dork,'

***~X~***

'So what do you think?'

'About what?' Nixie asked as they stepped out of the classroom. Tory frowned at her.

'Rhys didn't tell you?'

Nixie shook her head slowly, and he rolled his eyes, 'The boys found a few poachers off Mako, trawling for dolphins. They wanted to take on the boat, but I won't let them unless they have a group of six _swimmers_,' he emphasised the last word, 'As far as I know, the group is Zac, Charli, Rhys, Niall, Aaron, and Cam,'

'Well, that makes six,' Nixie pointed out.

'Swimmers,' Tory shook his head, 'Cam is human. With scuba gear on, he can't move as fast. He'd be likely to get hurt,'

'So you're asking me?'

'I know you like dolphins,' Tory grinned as they reached the locker area, 'They're meeting on the island this afternoon, after school. You should come,'

'You're not going,' Nixie pointed out. Tory grimaced.

'It's my turn to watch Fenn,' he replied. Nixie nodded in understanding.

'I'll think about it,'

***~X~***

Caleb didn't even look up as Zac knocked on the door.

'A group of us are going out to take on some poachers,' he told Caleb.

'Cool,'

'D'you want to come?'

'No thanks,'

'Caleb,' Zac hesitated, crossing to sit on the edge of his bed, 'Everyone's out looking for him. They'll find him, and he'll be okay,'

'How could you know that?' Caleb asked. He rolled onto his side. 'Just leave me alone, Zac,'

Zac watched his cousin for a moment, before departing. If Caleb wanted to lay in bed all day, there was nothing he could really do about it.

***~X~***

'Cutting it a bit fine,' Aaron commented as Zac joined them. He could see the tinny Cam had brought - still insisting on helping them - and Cam was talking to Nixie and Charli.

'What's Nixie doing here?' Zac asked. Aaron shot him a glance.

'Tory asked her,' he replied, 'She was willing to help. Come on, we should get going.'

Aaron led the way, speeding out close to where they could see the trawler in the water. Zac glanced back a few times to see Cam following in the boat, pulling up when he got close enough to see the trawler.

'Okay, they've got their nets down, so be careful,' Charli told them as they resurfaced beside Cam's boat.

'Who put you in charge?' Aaron asked, bristling. Charli gazed at him coolly.

'I used to do this for fun,' she replied.

'"Used to",'

'Guys, really?' Nixie arched an eyebrow, 'Did anyone consider whether they'd have a fish finder?'

'They would,' Cam nodded, 'But there's enough dolphins around that they'll think you're just them, right?'

'That's what we're counting on,' Niall replied, glancing at Rhys, 'First rule we always follow, is watch out for each other.'

'Especially Land Boy over here,' Charli reminded them, nodding at Cam.

'Hey, I can look out for myself,'

'Yeah? How long can you hold your breath?'

'Long enough,'

'Guys,' Nixie rolled her eyes, 'Cam, don't do anything tremendously stupid. We're just scaring dolphins away and untangling any that get caught in the nets. That's it.'

'And trying not to get caught ourselves,' Zac added. Aaron looked at Cam.

'You can stay alongside the boat without being seen?' he asked. Cam nodded.

'I'll keep an ear out and let you know when things are about to happen?' he asked, pulling diving goggles over his eyes. Aaron nodded.

'Let's move, before they decide they're finished,'

They submerged, Cam diving over the side of the boat and following them. He'd attached flippers to his feet, and was keeping pace with Zac and Nixie - more because they hung back to keep an eye on him.

Charli flicked her side fins, speeding off ahead of the others with her weed tails streaming behind her. She was the first to reach the nets, and chittered at one of the dolphins as she began to pull at the netting wrapped around it's tail. Rhys appeared beside her, helping, as Aaron circled around them, keeping other dolphins away.

***~X~***

The skipper leaned forward as the scanner beeped, several new images appearing on the display. From the heat signatures, it looked like these new ones were significantly larger than the dolphins they'd seen in the area.

'Guys! Drop another couple nets,' he called out the cabin window.


	25. 5x3

'_Psst_,'

Charli and Nixie frowned at each other, before looking down at the drainage port.

'Sirena?'

'You're alive!' Sirena sighed with relief, 'We thought you'd be hurt,'

'No, they just keep _dousing us with water_,' Nixie replied, hissing the second part to place emphasis on it. Sirena's eyes widened as she looked at Charli, who looked exhausted.

'We're working on a plan to get you out of there,' she promised them, 'Charli, do you think you can still walk?'

Charli shook her head tiredly. 'I'm using all my energy to keep my legs,' she explained, 'I can only hold it for another hour, maybe even less,'

Sirena ducked out of view as the deckhand appeared, throwing a bucket of water at the two again, grinning at Nixie before running off.

'D'you think you could stop pouring water over the _freezing human_?' Charli called out, 'I wouldn't mind a towel, or something.'

Sirena grimaced as Charli's call went unanswered. 'I'll tell the others to hurry,' she told them, before dropping back into the water and diving under the boat, torpedoing away as fast as she could.

Charli and Nixie looked up as Schmidtt stopped in front of them. 'Having fun?' he asked, Looking at Nixie.

'It'd be a lot more fun if I wasn't sopping wet,' Charli replied. Schmidtt ignored her, smiling at Nixie as he crouched down.

'You're gonna be famous, y'know,' he told her, 'The first _live_ mermaid captured. People will pay _millions_ to see you,'

'Great, I'll be the richest fish in the display tank,' Nixie remarked drily. She could see Charli was shivering, 'I figure you'll want my co-operation on this, right?'

'Your co-operation doesn't really matter,' Schmidtt told her, running a finger along her tail. She flapped it at him, knocking his hand away.

'I think it does,' Nixie shot back, before disappearing. Schmidtt's eyes widened in shock, and he stood up.

'You can't show off something you can't see,' Nixie told him, still invisible. Schmidtt grimaced.

'Fine. What do you want?'

Nixie reappeared, 'Let us go,'

Schmidtt laughed. 'Nice try,'

'It was worth a shot,' Nixie nodded at Charli, 'Fine. Get her a towel and stop throwing water over her. And something to eat wouldn't go astray,'

Schmidtt regarded Charli carefully. 'This is some sort of... human partner?'

'Call her my handler,' Nixie replied, 'Towel. And food. And,' she tilted her head, 'Let her change into some dry clothes,'

Charli glanced at Nixie. That would mean they would be separated, for at least a few minutes. What was she thinking?

Schmidtt hesitated, and Nixie arched an eyebrow. 'How much money would people pay to see a seemingly empty tank?' she asked. Schmidtt's eyes narrowed.

'Fine. What do you eat?'

'Lobster would be great,' Nixie glanced at Charli, 'Make it two,'

***~X~***

Caleb felt himself being shaken awake, and blinked blearily.

'Zac?' he looked at the clock beside the bed, 'It's nearly midnight,'

'We need your help,' Zac told him, tossing him a shirt, 'Get dressed.'

'I'm tired,' Caleb rolled over, pulling the covers up under his chin, 'Can't it wait until morning?'

'Nixie and Charli were caught by poachers,' Zac told him. Caleb rolled back over, staring at him. 'We need your help,'

Cam hesitated, then threw the covers off.

***~X~***

Charli gazed warily at the crewman as he shoved her roughly into a cabin.

'You have five minutes,' he told her, pulling the door shut. Charli grimaced at the clothes that had been dug up for her - clothes owned, ironically, by the deckhand that had been drenching them every five minutes.

She sat on the bed, letting her concentration down, and let out a soft moan as she transformed back into her true mer-form. She held her hand out over her tail, drying it as quick as she could.

Schmidtt was the one who opened the door, and he stood in front of her, arms folded.

'Your friend is something special,' he commented. Charli looked at him carefully.

'I kinda figured,' she replied.

'Where did you meet her?'

'A long time ago, way out at sea,' Charli lied, 'I don't see why it matters, though. You're gonna sell her or put her on display, and separate us,'

'If you can talk her into... cooperating,' he hesitated, 'I might not drop you overboard,'

'Is that what you were gonna do to-' she cut herself off, remembering that Cam had given a fake name, though not recalling what that name had been.

'Your friend, Josh?' he tilted his head, 'Maybe,'

'Really gallant, you are,' Charli snorted, 'Just take me back on the deck,'

Schmidtt shook his head. 'You're not going back on deck unless you agree to my terms,'

'Empty fish tank,'

Schmidtt opened his mouth to respond, then frowned, staring at her intently. 'Your hair's different,' he stated. Charli shifted nervously.

'What do you mean?'

'It was wet,' he replied, 'And red. Now, it's dry, and brown,'

Charli rolled her eyes. 'Um, I have a towel,' she told him, 'Did you consider that I maybe took a few seconds to dry my hair as well? Seeing as, I dunno, there's this thing called a head cold, that really sucks?'

Schmidtt shook his head, reaching forward and grabbing a strand of hair in his fingers. 'It's completely dry; like it's been that way for hours,'

'Yeah, my hair dries fast,' Charli slapped his hand away, 'Some people are lucky like that.'

'And the colouring?'

'Salt in the water neutralises the dye I used,' she lied. Schmidtt didn't look like he believed it for a second, but she decided to push it, 'If we're done with the Grand Inquisition about my physical attributes, can I go back on deck now?'

Schmidtt eyed her uncertainly. 'Fine,'

***~X~***

Caleb swallowed nervously.

'He's not doing it,' Zac told Tory.

'You have a better idea?'

'Zac, it's fine,' Caleb told him. Lyla folded her arms.

'It is _not_ fine,' she told him, 'This is almost as crazy as Charli's plan was,'

'Except this time, we'll _know_ Caleb won't end up stuck,' Sirena pointed out, 'I think it might work,'

'"Might" isn't good enough,' Zac cried, 'What if we're wrong? You're just gonna keep handing them more of us?'

'Zac, relax,' Caleb nodded to Tory, 'I'll do it,'

'Thanks,' Tory smiled, 'Let's not keep Nixie and Charli waiting too much longer, then,'


End file.
